CHICAGO — Dwane Casey stepped down as head coach of the Detroit Pistons right after their season finale Sunday.
Troy Weaver will hire a new coach for the first time since he was hired as general manager in 2020.
The Pistons allowed Casey to make his own decision on his future, and Casey will join the front office. The team is now in the beginning stages of whittling down a long list of potential replacements. They will consider a variety of options — current assistants, former head coaches looking to get back into the lead chair, and college coaches who are ready to make the leap to the pros.
Here are seven names to watch.
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Rex Kalamian
Casey may no longer be head coach, but that doesn’t mean the organization has already moved on from his staff. Kalamian, Jerome Allen, Jim Moran and Bill Bayno could all be in the mix as the front office begins the process of hiring Casey’s successor. Kalamian, who acted as interim coach on several occasions during the past two years when Casey had to take an absence, is the most likely of the four.
Ime Udoka
Before his suspension — and eventual dismissal — from the Boston Celtics, Udoka was one of the top candidates on the market in previous years. He was an assistant coach for the San Antonio Spurs from 2012-19 under Gregg Popovich, and interviewed with the Pistons before they hired Casey in 2018.
There’s still interest from the Pistons. Udoka has experience, leading the Celtics to the Finals during his lone season as head coach. But the front office will have to vet him out carefully, and weigh the viability of hiring a coach whose previous tenure ended due to an improper relationship with a Celtics female employee. Consider him a wild card.
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Charles Lee
The Pistons are expected to sort through a wide pool of assistant coaches. Lee might be toward the top of that list. He has been an assistant under Mike Budenholzer for eight years — four with the Atlanta Hawks from 2014-18, and five with the Milwaukee Bucks. Budenholzer’s reputation speaks for itself, as he turned the Hawks into a contender before coaching Milwaukee to a championship in 2021, with Lee at his side.
Adrian Griffin
Griffin has ample experience as an assistant and is considered one of the most ready coaches in the league to take the next step. The former NBA wing has been on head coach Nick Nurse’s staff in Toronto since 2018, and his previous stops were with the Oklahoma City Thunder, Orlando Magic, Chicago Bulls and Milwaukee Bucks.
Chris Quinn
The former NBA point guard has sat on Miami’s bench alongside head coach Erik Spoelstra since 2014. He has been part of a culture that has produced winning basketball — most recently, a Finals appearance in 2020, and Game 7 loss in the 2022 Eastern Conference finals.
Jay Wright
It would be surprising to see Wright, who turned 61 in December, exit retirement after coaching Villanova from 2001-22. But he has fans in Detroit’s front office, and his record is sterling: He’s a two-time Naismith College Coach of the Year winner and led the school to national championships in 2016 and 2018. While he may be more of a longshot, he’s under consideration.
Jerry Stackhouse
Fans would certainly welcome Stackhouse’s return to the organization. The former Pistons star led Vanderbilt to a 22-15 record in his fourth season as head coach, and is now considered a riser in the coaching ranks. He previously was an assistant with the Memphis Grizzlies and Toronto Raptors, where he served on Casey’s staff from 2015-16, before he was promoted to head coach of their G League affiliate, Raptors 905, from 2016-18. He hasn’t had contact with the Pistons, but that could change.