Kuester out as Pistons coach

In what is a surprise to no one, including John Kuester, the Pistons are once again looking for a new head coach.

Joe Dumars, Pistons president of basketball operations, made the announcement Sunday.

"Decisions like this are difficult to make," Dumars said. "I want to thank John for his hard work and dedication to the organization over the last two years. However, at this time we have decided to make a change."

When new Pistons owner Tom Gores held his introductory news conference Thursday at the Palace, he said he planned to meet with Kuester quickly. Unfortunately for Kuester, Gores mispronounced his name as "Koo-ster" rather than "Cue-ster," a likely sign the coach was not in their plans for the upcoming season.

The writing had been on the wall for some time, but the Pistons needed to wait to start making such decisions until the sale of the team and its acceptance by the league board of governors became official.

Kuester had success on Larry Brown's staff when the Pistons won the NBA title in 2004 and as an assistant to Mike Brown in Cleveland. It is considered pretty much a done deal Kuester will join Brown in Los Angeles now that Brown has taken the Lakers job.

As good an assistant as Kuester was, he was not nearly as good as a head coach. For whatever reason, he never seemed to command the appropriate respect from his players.

While that doesn't excuse some of the questionable behavior exhibited by the Pistons during the season — players refusing to reenter games, "missing" a shoot-around in Philadelphia, etc. — Kuester must shoulder some of the blame for the lack of communication and for some of his questionable decisions.

An NBA head coach must be able to manage the many different egos on a team. That's probably the main gift possessed by former Lakers and Bulls coach Phil Jackson. Imagine trying to deal with Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman on the same team. One of the years Jackson couldn't manage it was 2004, when Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant clashed, and the result was a Pistons championship.

Kuester is a nice, earnest man who knows basketball, but the varying egos on the Pistons got the best of him this past season.

Now the Pistons are looking for their seventh head coach since 2000. At this point, the ideal candidate would have at least some head-coaching experience, preferably at the NBA level. Former Pistons assistant Mike Woodson has been mentioned frequently.

It would be nice to have someone in place before the NBA draft June 23, but Dumars said there is no schedule.

“As our organization moves forward and prepares for the future, the search for our club’s new head coach is a priority and will begin immediately," he said.  "However, at this time, we do not have a timetable for hiring a successor. 

"We’ll conduct our due diligence privately and announce a decision when we’ve identified that individual.”

In addition to finding a coach and preparing for the draft, the next big issue for the Pistons likely will be dealing with the Rip Hamilton situation. Hamilton was one of the heroes of the 2004 championship team, but his legacy has been tarnished by events like his participation of a February boycott of a shoot-around in Philadelphia. Perhaps Gores will authorize Dumars to negotiate a buyout so there can finally be an amicable divorce.

The Pistons do have some building blocks in place, including last year's first-round pick, Greg Monroe, and a fully recovered Jonas Jerebko. Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva are under contract and not likely to be going anywhere. Indications are that the team will try to keep restricted free agent Rodney Stuckey, who attended Gores' news conference along with Gordon and Villanueva.

It looks like Dumars is going to have a very busy summer, but at least now he can get some things done, starting with finding a new head coach.