http://www.freep.com/article/2...ip%20with%20Hamilton

Curry must step up to fix relationship with Hamilton

BY DREW SHARP • FREE PRESS COLUMNIST • June 29, 2009

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The Pistons' biggest problem isn't a dearth of talent. It's that their head coach and best player barely speak to each other.
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Both Michael Curry and Rip Hamilton are to blame, prone to varying degrees of ego and stubbornness. But Curry must understand that it's incumbent upon the coach to fall on the sword, admitting his mistakes for the sake of pacifying the star's delicate disposition.

That's lesson one on the first day at Chuck Daly Coaching School.

Curry must make amends with Hamilton, regardless of the amount of crow swallowed, or he risks compromising his future as Pistons' coach.

"As far as the relationship being strained, it was a difficult season," Curry said.

"Was Rip very upset that he had to come off the bench? He was very, very upset. He was upset that he had to split time with (Allen) Iverson. He was upset that Iverson was here and Chauncey (Billups) wasn't. Rip was upset with a lot of things this year, but I don't put much stock into what that means with our relationship."

But according to several accounts, what irritated Hamilton most was that Curry made his decision to start Iverson and bring Rip off the bench without privately telling Hamilton first. He announced the benching to the entire team prior to a practice. Hamilton took it as an affront to his new role as team leader in Billups' absence. He grew sullen, truly turning into a whiny basketball diva for the first time in his career.

"I'm not going to get into that," Curry said. "However it was done, it wasn't going to be right or good for Rip because, at that time, he didn't want to come off the bench. He wasn't happy about that. I understand that."

But wasn't communication one of Curry's strongest coaching traits when Joe Dumars tapped him as Flip Saunders' successor last summer?

Rebuilding that relationship should be Curry's top off-season priority, but he told me last week that he's not planning on having a sit-down with Hamilton until later this summer. He's waiting until the Pistons' new roster emerges from anticipated trades and free agent acquisitions.

Maybe Hamilton is no longer a Piston upon July's sunset.
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The two butted heads all season.

Reporters clearly heard a high-decibel confrontation between Curry and Hamilton during a fourth quarter time-out against Portland at the Palace in the season's first month. Hamilton didn't agree with Curry's substitution patterns and Curry told him that if he didn't like the coach's decision, he could sit for the remainder of the game.

Hamilton dismissed the incident afterward.

There were other in-huddle disputes where Hamilton's attitude teetered at the brink of open mutiny, questioning Curry's coaching expertise on the basis of his limited skills as a player.

A head coach cannot permit that or he risks losing the respect of the players, especially on a team that has lacked the strong locker room presence necessary for maintaining order since Ben Wallace bolted three years ago.

"Are there things I could've done differently? Yes," Curry said. "There were mistakes, but mistakes are correctible. That's how you grow."

Many have already written off Curry's coaching career as hopeless. They might be right, but it still isn't fair. The Pistons cannot draw any definitive conclusions from an obviously transitional season. Curry deserves the opportunity to learn from his rookie missteps and find his footing. But that requires sufficient introspection. Curry must acknowledge his own contributions in making a difficult situation with Hamilton even worse.

If he doesn't learn that, he'll find himself on a very short coaching leash next season.

While I agree not all the blame falls on Curry...I can't stand him as a coach. Hearing the way he handled thr benching of Rip over AI is spineless. That's not being a leader if you ask me. He should have talked to Rip man to man.

i agree 100% doc. I didn't realize the players were actually being up front about their displeasure in his coaching style. I'm glad rip had the balls to tell him the truth!

What's funny is the players are more vocal then our HEAD coach. Not funny more like sad. I just don't understand how Curry can still be our coach since the obvious is comin out now.

How curry doesn't tell Rip ahead of time is unbelievable, Rip has been here since what? 02? An your gonna treat him like that? He's earned his respect! Curry hasn't. Most importantly Rip is a Champion! We gonna get rid of him cause of Curry's obvious lack of any coaching skills? I say bring in lambo an end this circus once an for all!

I thought gettin rid of iverson would stop this garbage looks like, Curry was part of the problem as well if not the core of it!

quote:

Originally posted by Dr. Evil:
While I agree not all the blame falls on Curry...I can't stand him as a coach. Hearing the way he handled thr benching of Rip over AI is spineless. That's not being a leader if you ask me. He should have talked to Rip man to man.

This is horrible leadership. That's almost as bad as finding out in the media. I had nearly the same thing happen to me in H.S. I was a 10th grader who was getting moved up to the varsity, but our head coach resigned before the season. The new coach had a meeting with all the players and about half way through turned to me and said, "oh, by the way, you're not going to be on the varsity next year. I don't like putting sophomores on the varsity," even though everybody knew I should have been on it and maybe even starting. I lost a lot of respect for him and he turned out to be a pretty bad coach, nearly having players quit and revolt against him. Looks like that nearly happened to Curry and could eventually happen. And considering the media, the egos, the money at stake, the millions of people watching the Pistons, times whatever ever I felt by 100 for Rip. Then consider Rip was validated when it turned out to be another dumb move by Curry.

Both are at fault, but wow, Curry is a bad coach.

Could the trading of Billups been handled any worse? Extremely disappointing. There is one part of this article I strongly disagree with.

quote:

Many have already written off Curry's coaching career as hopeless. They might be right, but it still isn't fair. The Pistons cannot draw any definitive conclusions from an obviously transitional season. Curry deserves the opportunity to learn from his rookie missteps and find his footing. But that requires sufficient introspection. Curry must acknowledge his own contributions in making a difficult situation with Hamilton even worse.

What exactly has Curry done to show he deserves to return and be given a second chance? I didn't come away from last season with any positives about Curry. I would agree if his handling of players was the only problem but lets be honest it wasn't. The guy didn't exhibit one strength. The guy couldn't strategies, develop our youth and it is painfully obvious that there was total anarchy in the locker room. Nothing to build off of.

Joe is making a big mistake bringing Curry back. MC is a lame duck coach. He has lost the support of the players and the fans. Why risk further damage? Why risk having him sour the relationship of the team and the new players we are going to acquire? Why further damage the reputation of the Pistons? I have serious reservations about Joe D's leadership and the job he is doing.

quote:

compromising his future as Pistons' coach.

Please Curry do this. I hope Joe D has Laimbeers cell on speed dial.

I like Bill Laimbeer as much the next guy, but I highly doubt he will ever be a successful Coach in the NBA. He needs to be an assistant before becoming a Head Coach in my opinion as well. With that said, he has to be better than Curry, lol. Curry is not made for Coaching period, let alone being a Head Coach.

I would pass on both of them and hire someone competent with previous Coaching experience, at least previous assistant coaching experience.

lambo won 3 ships coaching, thats more then curry has an ever will

It's women's basketball, who the hell cares?

womans basketball exactly! they dont have superstars to carry there teams. Which makes it all the more impressive he won 3 titles when teams are so evenly matched athletically

What?


There isn't some magical formula to determine what a superstar is. It's the top performers of the league, which means that there are in fact superstars in every league.

Which also builds on my point, who cares. There isn't enough talent/game plan/organization in the WNBA for it to be valid proof of his coaching ability.

The NBA is more about managing personalities than x&o's. That is a major question about Bill. Bill was an extremely cerebral player. I have no doubt about his ability to make up game plans and call plays. The flip side is he possess one of the most abrasive personalities ever seen in the NBA. I'm not convinced he could maintain control of the team.

Here in Detroit we are painfully aware of what happens when players don't respect their coach. Not only is it a major issue we have been dealing with since 2004 but it also cost us dearly during the Grant Hill era. That was Doug Collins downfall. I would like to see Bill become an assistant coach for a few years and see how he does interacting with the players.

A rookie coach has no business disrespecting a vet with a ring. With Curry pulling crap like that it's no wonder this season went completely downhill.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: tetris,

Love Bill, but you're right, he would have an infinite number of personality problems with NBA players as a coach. It's a shame, really - he can do the rest of the job just fine.

Also - if we are going for the "no drama" scenario, both Curry and Rip need to go. Rip really is like a petulant child at times and I'm kind of tired of his issues.

quote:

Originally posted by ego1970:
The NBA is more about managing personalities than x&o's. That is a major question about Bill. Bill was an extremely cerebral player. I have no doubt about his ability to make up game plans and call plays. The flip side is he possess one of the most abrasive personalities ever seen in the NBA. I'm not convinced he could maintain control of the team.

Here in Detroit we are painfully aware of what happens when players don't respect their coach. Not only is it a major issue we have been dealing with since 2004 but it also cost us dearly during the Grant Hill era. That was Doug Collins downfall. I would like to see Bill become an assistant coach for a few years and see how he does interacting with the players.

Larry Brown was abrasive wasn't he? how'd that work out for us?

i had a feeling this story coming out was gonna make a change, whether it was rip or curry. im just glad we didn't scrap a perennial winner for a perennial loser

quote:

Originally posted by Voice of Reason:
Larry Brown was abrasive wasn't he? how'd that work out for us?

IMO not very well. LB gets far too much credit for the 2004 championship. Our team was struggling and on the verge of collapsing when the Rasheed trade was made. That trade made us a champion not LB.

LB cost us Rick Carlisle and Memo Okur. He destroyed Darko. He cost us the second championship with his off the court drama and his silly feud with Memo. Extorted money from the franchise and left us in a lurch in 2006. I would even argue that our players developed their bad attitudes from LB. IMO LB did more negative things than positives for the Pistons.

quote:

Originally posted by Black Thought:
It's women's basketball, who the hell cares?

Not nice! I'm offended.

think about it though many teams, have bad attitudes too an dont have a ship to show for it, let alone how ever many str8 ecf trips