The Detroit Pistons are the only Eastern Conference team that hasn’t won a playoff game in the last 10 years. Their last postseason victory was in Game 4 of the 2008 conference finals, and they were swept in the first round in their only two playoff appearances since then.
Both of those sweeps were at the hands of LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers, something that new Pistons coach Dwane Casey knows something about. Casey takes over a team that has seemingly underachieved the last two years and failed to make the playoffs again this season, even though the Pistons were in ninth place upon acquiring Blake Griffin in late January.
Casey comes from a more successful program in Toronto, but there was some hope in Detroit for a younger coach on the rise, as Vince Ellis writes in the Detroit Free Press:
A source told the Free Press going into his interview that expectations for Casey were “lukewarm.”
Not necessarily because of the Raptors’ shortcomings.
Pistons vice chairman Arn Tellem, a strong voice in the search, is naturally drawn to finding new, rising talents in his decision-making process.
…
“It probably was to his advantage that he went first and he really knocked the ball out of the park,” Stefanski said. “He was excellent on all our questions.”
He immediately dispelled notions that he was just a retread.
He came prepared with detailed notes on how he would seek to develop the roster. There were visuals with video.
And despite a coaching career that has spanned five decades, he offered examples of being open to adapting with changing times.
