Video: John Kuester Press Conference

New Pistons head coach John Kuester meets with the media.

I like how Kuester comes across: humble, smart, experienced, and not a pushover.

I'm taking Kuester on his own merits, but like Chuck Daly he's coming from Cleveland and getting his first shot as an NBA head coach in Detroit in his 50s.

I won't complain if he leads the young new Pistons to multiple championships.

Man, you ran with that comparison. lol

It just seemed to flow.

"There's no magic formula. Our philosophy will be 'do things the right way.' The good teams--and I'm talkin' about the good teams--never go into a film session, never go into a practice, never go into a game unprepared. And we'll be as prepared as any NBA team."

"Three themes you'll continue to hear all year, whether's it's overall--defensive and offensive philosophy--Communicate, help, and trust. We have to do a great job at communicating on and off the floor. We've got to do a great job at helping each other on and off the floor. And when you have that communication and help and that trust comes into play. That trust if it's the relationship player to player, player to coach, coach to coach, coach to management."

That's the new Pistons head coach.

He had me at "There's no magic formula."

He had me at communicate, help, and trust. Those are great guideposts for life, not to mention a professional basketball club. If you take the human animal and remove the concept of communication we lose all understanding and empathy. It is the framework for learning. Help, outside the lines, is about those qualities as well--understanding and empathy. We're a skittish animal that just wants to survive above all. That's our most basic instinct. If we don't communicate our emotions are affected drastically as we act out of violence because we perceive danger everywehere. Help is a byproduct of communication as Trust is a byproduct of Communication. Inside the lines, it is about a commitment to a single task, and in this case, it makes for more consistent basketball.

In short, the man is smart, pays attention, and observes the human animal. That commands my respect (as a fan).

Being prepared holds the players accountable. If they don't read a tremendous scouting report, they are negligent. That makes Joe Dumars' job pretty easy--the player is to be held to account. If they aren't provided a great scouting report, the team can hide behind it somewhat. The same can be said if they don't have the personnel to stop certain players in the league or a system designed to win ball games. Preparation is about putting the players in a position to succeed and holding them to account if they don't. It takes hard work to put a player in that position. And what is demanded of the athlete is the same thing demanded of the scouts, the coaches, and the General Manager--hard work (effort, retaining knowledge, good instincts, etc.)

He hit all the points of my philosophy.

You guys are certainly getting a gem in John Kuester. We as Cavs fans were really sad to see him go. He was able to turn the Cavalier offense in the 08-09 season from one of the most stagnant, predictable, and uninspired offenses in the league to a top 10 offense that moved the ball and didn't see LeBron handling the ball 100% of the time (although that formula seemed to change in the series loss to Orlando in the playoffs... ahem). He will be great working with all that firepower on one team - Villanueva, Hamilton, Gordon, Stuckey, even Prince. The question will be whether or not he is able to successfully install a good defensive system in there. You already have a few veteran players on that team who know the value of defense, so that will help a lot. Seeing as he was under Mike Brown for two years, and Mike Brown coached one of the best defenses in the league, I would think that he at least has an idea of what he wants to do on defense.

Cavalier Marcus wrote:You guys are certainly getting a gem in John Kuester. We as Cavs fans were really sad to see him go. He was able to turn the Cavalier offense in the 08-09 season from one of the most stagnant, predictable, and uninspired offenses in the league to a top 10 offense that moved the ball and didn't see LeBron handling the ball 100% of the time (although that formula seemed to change in the series loss to Orlando in the playoffs... ahem). He will be great working with all that firepower on one team - Villanueva, Hamilton, Gordon, Stuckey, even Prince. The question will be whether or not he is able to successfully install a good defensive system in there. You already have a few veteran players on that team who know the value of defense, so that will help a lot. Seeing as he was under Mike Brown for two years, and Mike Brown coached one of the best defenses in the league, I would think that he at least has an idea of what he wants to do on defense.

If the Pistons aren't one of the better defensive teams by season's end, I doubt it will have anything to do with John Kuester. He may have run the offense for the Cavaliers, but he was Larry Brown's right-hand man for everything with the seven years he had in Philadelphia (1997-2003) and Detroit (2003-04). You can't talk about 'playing the right way' and 'being prepared' without thinking of Larry Brown's influence on this man. I think we can all agree that Brown is one of the best defensive minds this league has ever seen.