According to several reports, the Detroit Pistons are on the verge of naming Maurice Cheeks as their next head coach.
The announcement, depending on the source, could come right now or sometime within the next 48 to 72 hours.
Would you expect anything less from the Pistons? Ambiguity is the one trait they've mastered in recent years.
And since the shelf life for a Pistons head coach is about as long as a carton of milk – Cheeks would become Detroit’s eighth head coach over the last 14 seasons – whenever the announcement is made, I’m not going to do cartwheels down Woodward Avenue.
If there's one franchise that troubles me, it’s the Pistons. Whether you agree with Wings and Tigers management, they do perform with a level of competency that keeps them competitive.
The Lions are still the Lions. Until they develop any kind of competitive consistency, they really can’t be mentioned with the other three franchises.
But the Pistons have been aimlessly wandering the Detroit sports landscape for so long now, anything they do seems so inconsequential.
Cheeks is likely just another sacrificial lamb, a coach who will eventually be run out of town. Joe Dumars has a track record of being loyal to his roster, which has allowed the players to run the franchise into the ground.
We all love Dumars, but the Pistons need a stable foundation, which doesn’t appear likely to happen anytime soon. If you can figure out what their long-term plan is, please e-mail it to me.
Andre Drummond could be the rock to build the franchise around, but depending on who's doing the building, it could be a house of cards.
Since Tom Gores has owned the team, the Pistons are glitzy. They’ve made a splash with their halftime performers but laid an egg on the court.
It seems their biggest move to date was to name Phil Jackson as a special consultant to Dumars. Gores and Jackson are tight, and the thought was that Jackson, a former Pistons nemesis, could guide Dumars off the path of obscurity.
In reality, though, Jackson is just another showbiz name. He's been making the rounds on the talk-show circuit promoting his new book. At one point, he seemed to be on television every single day for weeks.
I have watched Jackson on several talk shows, and oddly enough, his gig with the Pistons has never been mentioned – by any of the interviewers or by Jackson himself when he’s been asked what he's up to.
Perhaps you could interpret this as Jackson wanting his association with the Pistons to be on the down-low, except for the fact that Detroit put out a glowing press release announcing that he's part of the organization.
Which leads me back to scratching my head about what’s really going on in Auburn Hills.
Detroit has a terrific basketball heritage. The Metro Detroit area has produced some legendary hardwood talent, and the Pistons have given us some memorable championship teams and players.
However, Detroit’s basketball franchise has gone over the cliff now and is free-falling toward the bottom.
Hopefully, Mo Cheeks is the answer and has packed his parachute.
