Say it ain’t so, Joe.
Joe Dumars supposedly is contemplating Isiah Thomas (and Bill Laimbeer) to fill the Pistons’ head coaching vacancy created when John Kuester was fired. If the former Bad Boys indeed reunited it surely would be the last mistake the team president would be allowed to make.
Fact is, ESPN’s report is wrong. Dumars had prioritized Mark Jackson and was on the phone with Steve Kauffman the night before the Warriors announced his client had been hired. There was no second choice and that remains the case. But Thomas, and in all probability Laimbeer, will not be considered when a candidate list is shaped.
Interestingly, Kauffman also represents former Knicks assistant Mike Malone who interviewed for the Golden State opening. Recruited by Mike Brown to pick up where they left off with the Cavaliers and join him on the Lakers bench, he instead will become Jackson’s first assistant. Malone has one year left on his Hornets’ contract as Monty Williams’ right hand man, but was given a slide.
Another certain helper is Pete Myers. I’m a big fan of the Bulls’ official. He once stepped in front of Jackson in the Knicks’ locker room and stopped his rather riled teammate from getting his hands on me for something I had written that he apparently took the right way.