The basketball world stopped in it’s tracks yesterday with the death of one of the NBA’s greatest coaches, Chuck Daly. Daly will forever be synonymous with the Detroit Pistons “Bad Boys” teams that won two NBA championships in 1989 and 1990. Daly amassed a 638–437 record during his 14 seasons in the NBA and went 76 and 51 in the playoffs. Daly was a firey coach one the sidelines and occasionally erupted in a Bobby Knight-esqe tirade.
A greater team has never been assembled than the 1992 Dream Team
Daly is less known for his Olympic gold medal as the head coach of the U.S. men’s basketball team in the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. This was the first year the Dream Team was assembled and Chuck was able to successful lead the likes of Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Charles Barkley and Karl Malone to Olympic Gold. [Writer's note: I do still own a 1992 Dream Team Christian Laettner jersey. That was before the Duke basketball squad became an amazing, never ending collection of privileged pompous jerks. They were just privileged back then.] Managing egos was never a problem for Chuck.
John Salley's career really took off when he retired
But I believe Daly’s greatest legacy will be his ability to get the very most out of his players. Keep in mind, his 1989 championship roster included an undersized scoring point guard with a massive ego (Isiah Thomas). An undersized two guard that couldn’t shoot that well, and didn’t have very handles (Joe Dumars). A small forward that couldn’t his a shot outside of, a dunk (Dennis Rodman). A power forward that was the stereotypical “role player” and was best known as a TV personality after his time on the court was over (John Salley). The starting five was rounded out by a tough-nosed center who could step out and hit a three on occasion, only because opposing teams didn’t expect him to make any shots (Bill Lambeer). Their bench was anchored by the steady Mark Aquirre, Vinnie “The Microwave” Johnson, James Edwards and Rick Mahorn. A team that sounds more like the 2009 Memphis Grizzlies than the 2009 Cleveland Cavaliers or L.A Lakers. But Chuck Daly was able to ge them all to band together, play defense like nobody ever before or since and above all win.
The basketball world was a better place with Chuck Daly in it. He’ll be missed.
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