Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
It doesn’t appear that the Detroit Pistons will ask George Karl for his resume. They’ve got their man.
Within a day or two, the Pistons are expected to announce that Mo Cheeks will be their new skipper. In a way, he’s a compromise between the Phil Jackson faction that wanted Brian Shaw and the Joe Dumars faction that preferred Nate McMillan.
Cheeks, currently with the Oklahoma City Thunder, brings impressive credentials to the position. The biggest is experience and the fact he’ll get full respect from the players. His predecessors, including the past two, John Kuester and Lawrence Frank, did not accomplish this task.
Cheeks should be able to work with the Pistons’ young players including Rodney Stuckey, who was not a favorite with Frank.
That said, the coach won’t be able to gain instant respect from just his name. He’ll have to earn that respect by getting results in the standings. The Pistons have not had a winning record in five seasons and unless they show marked improvement, it’s likely that they’re still a year away or two from being a strong playoff contender. Cheeks will be expected to get this team into title contention eventually and into a routine pattern of winning seasons.
But he will be brought in with one goal in mind: take the team to the NBA playoffs. Cheeks has two seasons to get the Pistons into the playoffs. It will be Dumars’ job to make sure he’s got the talent, and it will be Cheeks’ duty to get the team on the winning path again.
