I was working at ESPN 1080 in Orlando during the 2003 NBA Playoffs, when the 8th-seed Magic jumped to a 3-1 lead over #1 Detroit in the first round. TMac was killing the Pistons, and DET coach Carlisle finally did what Dumars had been on him to do all season - play rookie Tayshaun Prince. Tay had only played 400 minutes the entire regular season, and Dumars was pissed that Carlisle wouldn't give enough minutes to him and fellow rookie Mehmet Okur. (Though mostly he was pissed about Prince, his first-round pick the previous summer) http://www.detroitbadboys.com/2012/9/27/3414766/comeback-day-pistons-magic-prince-takes-on-mcgrady The rest, as they say, is history. The Pistons recoverd and made it to the EC Finals before losing to the Nets. Carlisle was fired after only two seasons (each of them 50-win campaigns). Dumars brought in Larry Brown, who led DET to the huge upset over the Kobe - Shaq - Malone - Payton Lakers in the 2004 Finals, part of 6 straight years going to at least the EC Finals, winning a championship and losing a 7-game series to the Spurs in another Finals. Prince went on to play 82 games each of the next 6 seasons, while being named All-Defense four straight years. Okur left DET after two seasons because he was a 2nd round pick and Utah pulled an Arenas (before the Arenas provision) to sign him away. Okur went on to become an All-Star and have a pretty good career. Check out this piece by Bucher, how much does this sound like this year's Bulls: =============================================================== The only explanation is that Rick Carlisle was slipping motor oil into Joe Dumars' coffee. Or got caught red-handed stealing all the green M&Ms out of owner William Davidson's private stash. Or, despite being warned to cease and desist, continued to run up and down the Pistons' practice floor late at night in golf spikes. Rick Carlisle got the most out of the Pistons in posting back-to-back 50-win seasons. Even if he was guilty of all the above hypothetical transgressions, there are more than a few NBA teams who would put up with all that if their coach did what Carlisle did in Detroit, which is take a losing culture and a mediocre roster and produce back-to-back 50-win seasons and a trip to the Eastern Conference finals. What ESPN.com asked me to do in this column is explain why Carlisle was called at his vacation home in the Carolinas Friday night and fired with a year left on his three-year contract. Truth is, I can't. Sure, I can tell you I've been told managing partner William Davidson, team president Tom Wilson and basketball operations president Joe Dumars felt Carlisle was too rigid in how he dealt with the front office as well as his playing rotation. Or that the Pistons probably would've hung with Carlisle for the final year of his contract if Larry Brown hadn't become both available and amenable to moving to Detroit. And that the postseason performances of rookies Tayshaun Prince and Mehmet Okur drew criticism that Carlisle should have had them in his rotation the entire season. Carlisle also had a couple of vets in the locker room privately questioning his adjustments and playing-time distribution. But fire the guy? After only two years as a head coach? After winning Coach of the Year his first season and directing a team with clearly less talent than the Pacers, Raptors, Hornets, Celtics and Nets -- and arguably Magic and 76ers as well -- to the Eastern Conference's best record? A guy who, while reluctant to play Prince after he stumbled mightily in a stint of five starts early in the season, rode him to advance to the East finals? (Full article here - http://static.espn.go.com/nba/columns/bucher_ric/1539184.html) ================================================================= More from SB Nation on how Prince saved the Pistons' season and kicked off the Pistons' mini-dynasty of the 2000s: In the Magic's three wins, Prince played a total of 11 minutes. But after giving Prince 17 largely unremarkable minutes in Detroit's game 2 win, Carlisle switched gears starting in game 5 and built his defensive gameplan around Prince, asking the rookie to play man defense on McGrady. Carlisle wanted to make T-Mac work for his points and ensure his less than stellar supporting cast couldn't beat the Pistons. Carlisle's plan paid off. Prince's long arms enabled him to play off of McGrady and cut off driving lanes while still bothering any jumpers McGrady took. And he wasn't shy about taking jump shots. In the critical game five, with Prince tasked with slowing McGrady and saving the Pistons' season, T-Mac hit just eight of 20 shots. Prince, meanwhile, played 33 minutes and was a team-high +27 for the game, a game Detroit won by 31 points in front of a raucous crowd at the Palace of Auburn Hills. McGrady shot 36 percent in the final three games, all Magic losses. And calling them losses is putting it kindly as the average margin of victory was 20 points. (Full article here - http://www.detroitbadboys.com/2012/9/27/3414766/comeback-day-pistons-magic-prince-takes-on-mcgrady) =================================================================== It's kind of ironic, Okur turned 24 two days after the Pistons were eliminated from the 2003 playoffs (Niko, of course, just turned 24 in February). Okur was a Euro taken 37th overall, Niko went 23rd. Carlisle insisted on starting his trusted veteran Cliff Robinson over Okur all year, even though Okur had a better PER and TS% while averaging more points and rebounds per 36 minutes than Cliff. Sound pretty damn similar to Taj/Niko this year? Prince was a 4-year college player, just like McDoug. Prince was an All-American his last two seasons at UK, while McDoug was a 3-time All-American who was a little more accomplished in college (though playing for a lesser program). That's probably why McDoug was drafted #11 while Prince went at #23 - though if you re-do the 2002 draft for accuracy, Prince would surely be a top-11 pick (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_NBA_draft).
Tim Floyd Floyd was hired at Iowa State University in May 1994 as the 15th basketball coach in ISU history. In his four years at ISU, Floyd posted an 81-49 record. He is one of two coaches in Iowa State history to post three consecutive 20-win seasons along with his former player, current ISU basketball coach Fred Hoiberg. He also led the team to three straight appearances in the NCAA Tournament and three straight first-round victories. In his first season with the Cyclones, Floyd guided the team to a then-school-record 23 victories and the second round of the NCAA Tournament. During that season, the Cyclones were ranked in the AP Top 25 poll for 11 consecutive weeks, peaking at number eleven. Four of the eleven ISU losses were to 1995 NCAA Final Four teams. The Cyclones returned to the Big Eight Conference Tournament championship for the first time since 1986. In addition, during the 1995 season, Fred Hoiberg became the first Cyclone to earn All-American honors since Jeff Grayer in 1988. Picked in preseason polls to finish last in the Big Eight, the 1995-96 Cyclones finished second in the league with a 9-5 mark and won the Big Eight Conference Tournament with a win over the Kansas Jayhawks, then ranked the number five team in the nation. The Cyclones received the highest NCAA Tournament seed in school history. As the number five seed, the Cyclones defeated the California Bears but lost to the Utah Utes, then coached by Rick Majerus (who, in 2004, accepted and immediately resigned from the USC head coaching job that later went to Floyd). Iowa State's 24 victories that season was a school record. For his coaching efforts, Floyd was named Big Eight Coach of the Year and runner-up to Gene Keady of Purdue University for AP National Coach of the Year. In the 1996-1997 season, with high expectations and a national ranking as high as number four, Floyd and the Cyclones posted a 22-9 mark and advanced to their first NCAASweet Sixteen appearance in 11 years. In the NCAA Tournament, the sixth-seeded Cyclones defeated the Illinois State Redbirds in the first round and the Cincinnati Bearcats before losing to the UCLA Bruins in overtime in a game they led by double digits most of the game. Fred Hoiberg On April 27, 2010 Iowa State University announced that Hoiberg would take over as head basketball coach, taking over for Greg McDermott, who left ISU to take the head coaching position at Creighton University.[4] He is their 19th Men's Basketball coach. Hoiberg won his first game, although an unofficial exhibition, over the University of Dubuque on November 5, 2010, 100–50. Hoiberg won his first official game, against Northern Arizona University, 78–64 on November 12, 2010. In 2011-12, Hoiberg led the Cyclones to a 23-11 record and the program’s first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2005. [5] The season also included the team’s first ranking in the AP Top 25 poll since 2005. [6] Hoiberg was declared 2012 Big 12 Co-Coach of the Year after winning nine more games during the 2012 conference season than in 2011, the largest season-to-season improvement in Big 12 history.[7]
