Meet John Kuester, the New Detroit Piston Head Coach

Meet John Kuester, the new Detroit Piston head coach
Posted by Dave Dial July 07, 2009 20:19PM

There will be some fans who may remember Kuester from the year he spent in Detroit as Larry Brown's lead assistant during the 2004 season when the Pistons won the NBA Title. But most fans will be a bit hazy on just who Kuester is.

So here is a little about the new head coach for the Detroit Pistons. Henry Abbott of ESPN's True Hoop can trace a squiggly line from Kuester all the way back to James Naismith, the inventor of modern basketball.

July 7, True Hoop: Basketball's inventor, James Naismith, would be up there, with a line to Phog Allen who learned from the originator. Allen has a direct line to Dean Smith, who coached ... Larry Brown.

Then the chart would start to get really wide, because the list of people who coaches who have played for or worked under Brown is immense. This is only the beginning:

Abbott then goes on to list the many people who work in the NBA in various capacities that have ties to Larry Brown. Let's avert our eyes from the Michael Curry mention(he's there because he played for Brown), and get onto the Kuester portion.

All of that is background for the news about the Pistons' newest head coach. ESPN's Marc Stein has sources saying the new coach of the Detroit Pistons will be John Kuester. If you made your big board of the Brown basketball coaching family, many lines would connect Kuester and Brown:

*Kuester assisted Brown in Detroit and for his entire six-year run in Philadelphia.

*Just like Larry Brown, Kuester played college basketball for Dean Smith at North Carolina. Kuester played from 1973-1977.

*In October 1978, when Larry Brown was the head coach of the Nuggets, the team signed Kuester -- who played the better part of three seasons in the NBA -- to his second NBA contract, which expired at the end of season (when Brown was replaced by Walsh).


Joe Dumars stated he wanted a coach with experience, well Kuester has plenty of that. The new Piston coach has been coaching, whether in the NCAA or NBA since 1980 and has an impressive resume.

What about his last gig, as Cleveland Cavalier head coach Mike Brown's lead assistant? Here is a write-up from the Cleveland Plain Dealer from December of 2008 titled 'Brown credits assistant Kuester as Cavaliers' invigorated offense takes flight'.

July 7, Cleveland Plain Dealer: When the Cavaliers went through prolonged offensive slumps over the last few seasons, coach Mike Brown often found himself the target of criticism.

There was urging from both inside the organization and out for him to consider adding a so-called "offensive coordinator" to his staff. It would have mirrored a bit of the philosophy Brown was a part of in his previous job, when he was the highly successful defensive coordinator for the Indiana Pacers.

Well, this season Brown has done so. He just didn't exactly tell everyone about it.

At 19-3, the Cavs possess the best offense in the NBA, in terms of efficiency. They rank fourth in scoring at just under 104 points a game, second in field-goal shooting at 48 percent and first in victory margin at more than 13 points.

Much of it can be attributed to the addition of point guard Mo Williams; the team previously lacked an accomplished lead guard, which contributed to the past trouble. But there's also another factor that has helped despite purposely not getting attention -- offensive coordinator John Kuester.

Kuester designed the plays, the schemes and even helped dictate substitution patterns in Cleveland. He's a known commodity and Piston fans can look forward to a new kind of offense in Detroit. Joe Dumars just has to provide the players, which he is well on the way in doing.