By H. Jose Bosch
So I guess buying the Army fatigues in anticipation of joining the “Little General’s” ranks was a bit premature. That sucks because I thought the camouflage was rather slimming.
So not long after talks with Avery Johnson fell through, it looks like the Pistons finally have their man in Cavs assistant John Kuester.
Not being completely familiar with the assistant coaching ranks of the NBA, I went to the best source of information on anybody in the world — Wikipedia. This is all I got:
-“In both his junior and senior year (1979 and 1980), Kuester was voted UNC’s best defensive player. Also in his senior year, as was voted Most Valuable Player of the ACC Tournament and the NCAA East Regionals.” (Not too bad)
-“From 1985 to 1990 he was the head coach at George Washington University. His 1988-1989 Colonials team compiled a 1-27 record, one of the worst ever in NCAA history.” (Ouch)
-“Via ESPN.com, close sources say Kuester is to be named head coach of the Detroit Pistons, to be formally announced July 8, 2009.” (Hey, that’s what I’m talking about!)
So yeah, not too many career highlights.
For what it’s worth Kuester was an assistant for seven years under mercenary NBA coach Larry Brown and one of those years was 2004 with the Pistons and we all know what happened then. It’s good karma!
This isn’t the kind of hire that rips attention away from all the free agency signings that will be officially announced in the coming days. At the same time I can’t say it’s a terrible hire.
Kuester has experience in an NBA locker room (he played some pro ball and he’s been an assistant since 1990) and he doesn’t have the ego or I’m-burning-myself-out intensity that made Johnson and Doug Collins risky choices.
The biggest problem may be that Kuester is too nice according to Mike Rosenberg. But as the same column pointed out, Kuester did earn the respect of Pistons players in 2004 because he was the only assistant who stood up to Brown. So he may be a good guy but he has a spine.
I personally would’ve preferred Johnson. He’s fiery, he’s won as an NBA coach, and he has a funny sounding voice, which would’ve been gold for this site.
But the Kuester hiring won’t be a disaster.