Only minutes after Dwane Casey announced he was stepping away as head coach of the Detroit Pistons and taking a position in the team’s front office, names started being tied to the opening.
The headline candidate so far is Ime Udoka, who is likely to have a number of suitors this offseason. Udoka is currently serving a season-long suspension from the Boston Celtics after an alleged inappropriate relationship with a female staffer. The Celtics have already removed the interim tag from Joe Mazulla so Udoka will certainly be on the market this offseason.
In one season as the Celtics’ head coach, Udoka finished with a 51-31 record. Before that, he spent nine seasons as an assistant coach in San Antonio, Philadelphia and Brooklyn. He’s also close with Boston’s players, including Jaylen Brown, long rumored to be someone Troy Weaver would love to add to Detroit’s roster as it gets more competitive.
Other. names cropping up in various media reports: Bucks assistant Charles Lee, Raptors assistant Adrian Griffin, Heat assistant Chris Quinn, Bulls assistant Josh Longstaff and Nets assistant Brian Keefe, per Adrian Wojnarowski of the ESPN.
Lee and Udoka are also mentioned in the first report coming from The Athletic’s Shams Charania.
Jerry Stackhouse, Lee, Udoka and Giffin were mentioned by Detroit-based national reporter for Yahoo Vincent Goodwill.
Finally, Goodwill’s Yahoo colleague Jake Fischer mentioned Lee, Griffin and former Pistons point guard Chauncey Billups.
We will break down all of the top candidates and other names that are associated with the Pistons opening as things develop.