It took more than a week, but the Detroit Pistons officially introduced Dwane Casey as its new head coach to the Detroit media and fans Wednesday at Little Caesars Arena. Casey agreed to become the head man in Detroit, after being relieved of his duties with the Toronto Raptors in May. He was joined on the stage by Pistons owner Tom Gores, Senior Advisor Ed Stefanski, Vice-Chairman Arn Tellem, and Platinum Equity Partner Bob Wentworth.
“First of all, I want to say thank you guys for having me here,” said Casey on the podium. “What drew me here, was this guy right here next to me (Gores). His passion, his energy, his vision for this organization, and for the community. It’s so important for the owner to have a vision for what he wants beyond basketball. They convinced me that the passion and the tradition of the Detroit Pistons basketball program is in great hands.”
Casey, 61, could have taken a year off from coaching, collected a cool $6.5 million from the Raptors and waited for a more attractive coaching opportunity in 2019. Instead, he joined a team with little roster flexibility due to the salary cap and no first-round pick in this week’s draft. Detroit has reached the playoffs just once in nine years, hasn’t won a postseason series since 2008, and played before a half-empty new arena in downtown Detroit on many nights.
But, even all of that was not going to stop Casey from signing his five-year deal worth $35 million with the Pistons.
“I understand the toughness of the job,” Casey said. “Tom (owner Gores) didn’t sugarcoat it. He let us know where it was, what he expected, where the journey’s going to go. He didn’t have to sell me from that standpoint. The history of the Detroit Pistons basketball organization and Tom’s vision for it is what sold me.”
“Our starting point here is a lot higher than where we started with in Toronto.”
Gores also spoke the praises of Casey, saying he “checked every single box.” Casey went 320-238 in seven seasons in Toronto and led the Raptors to a franchise-record five consecutive playoff appearances, including a trip to the 2016 Eastern Conference Finals. He is also the presumptive NBA coach of the year, after leading the Raptors to a franchise-record 59-win season, and the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference. Pair that with his ability to develop players and Gores felt they chose the only man for the job.
“I knew Dwane was good, of course. He’s got all the accolades,” said Gores. “He has the track record; his demeanor is amazing. But the thing that really drew, though, is that he was hungry. How do you get hungry after you’ve won Coach of the Year? So, that was one and of course his basketball knowledge.”
“And I didn’t make this easy on Dwane because he was Coach of the Year. We really went through the process and we talked about everything. He’s a great listener and our players need great listeners these days and then you can get them to feed back. I heard that he was the safe choice, but he has a lot of upside.”
Casey believes a roster built around All-Stars Andre Drummond and Blake Griffin and point guard Reggie Jackson, is ready to win now. The trio only played together for four games last season due to injuries but there is still optimism within the organization that the Pistons can be a threat in the Eastern Conference when the team is at full-strength.
“The most important thing is the talent level that you have with Blake, Andre and Reggie to start with,” Casey said. “And then the next level of guys, you’re talking about Luke Kennard, you’re talking about Stanley Johnson, who I’ve always admired from afar, and also Henry Ellenson. Three very young, very talented players. And I’d put Andre in that group as being young. He’s 24 years old, just an untapped wealth of talent.”
“That’s going to be on myself and the coaching staff to really draw out as much as we can. The talent level on the roster is there. Getting it together and identifying how we’re going to play is very important. That’s the fun part of it.”
Casey said majority of the team was practicing in Los Angeles while he was working on gathering his staff. One player he raved about was Stanley Johnson. So much so, that he thought he was the key to stopping the best player on the earth.
“I expect our time is now, said Casey. “We have the core group with Blake, Andre, Reggie, and Stanley. Stanley Johnson is the best matchup for 23 (LeBron James) in Cleveland.”
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