So when we talk about Flip Saunders' compassion, his creative and productive offensive system, his penchant for riding a hot hand until it cools or a play until it's stopped, his willingness to trust his reserve players, his insistence on putting the spotlight on his players and not himself, we aren't by association denigrating those characteristics in previous coach Larry Brown.
And when we talk about the Pistons' fast start and seamless transition into Saunders' system, it's not an indictment of Brown for the slow starts the last two seasons.
"Larry and Rick (Carlisle) set a good foundation here," said assistant coach Don Zierden, who has coached alongside Saunders since 1986, except for five years in the late 1990s, when he was a head coach in the CBA.
"Flip is just trying to build off of it."
There's a window to Saunders' character right there. He has won everywhere he's been. His winning percentage over nine-plus years at Minnesota was .558. Counting his years in the CBA, he's won 59 percent of the games he's coached. Yet, when he took over the Pistons, he was more than willing to accept the foundation that was in place and find ways to enhance it with his system.
"You've got to give Flip credit," former Pistons coach Doug Collins said during the TNT broadcast of the Pistons-Suns game Thursday. "He didn't try to reinvent the wheel. He knows what this team is. He took its strengths and added the things he does best and they're playing well."
But, as Ben Wallace was quick to point out, it's not as if Saunders just came in, handed the reins to the players and collected his paycheck.
"He didn't just come in and concede the fact that we were a good team and that we will win games," Wallace said. "He came in, put his system in and he coached us. Some coaches might have come in here and been intimidated and not really willing to rock the boat. But he came in wanting to make us better.
"We learned a lot from him, and he's learned a lot from us."
If the Pistons finish with the best record in the NBA this season I don't think anyone but Flip can be coach of the year unless a team like Utah or New Orleans ends up top 5.
__________________ DePaul Basketball
Piston Forum - Atleast we can't get in trouble for paying Cwebb this time
Boycotting the Detroit Lions since the 2007 NFL Draft
The Pistons made Paul Pierce look like a bit of a prophet Tuesday night, scoring 67 points in the second half of a 115-100 victory.
A day earlier, talking to the Boston Herald, Pierce made this observation: "The way Flip Saunders has them playing, I think that they are all playing better. I think Larry Brown held them back.
Quote:
...But back to Pierce's point. Billups was asked how much Saunders' offensive philosophy had to do with the Pistons averaging better than 100 points a game this season.
"One hundred percent," Billups said. "I am not saying we couldn't get it going with LB (former coach Larry Brown). We just got it going a different way. Our team now, when we force turnovers, we attack, you know. When we see mismatches, we go after it.
The Flip Factor
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