Chuck Daly passed away today. Daly won two NBA championships with the Detroit Pistons, amassed a 638-437 NBA coaching record over his 13-year career, and was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1994. Dan Feldman of Piston Powered gathered a bunch of articles that pay tribute to Daly. Here are a few more articles mourning the loss of one of the greatest coaches of all-time:
Mark Heisler of HoopsHype.com: “Of all the rags-to-riches stories among NBA coaches, there was never one like Chuck Daly, who, for all his larger-than-life style with his big hair, big smile and $5,000 suits, arrived thinking he was the luckiest man they ever let walk the sideline, and left as a giant. In a league in which talent overwhelmed Xs-and-Os (if your X was Wilt Chamberlain, it didn’t matter where they put their Os) and coaches customarily came from the ranks of the players, he was from as far out in left field as you could go. In a subculture in which poverty and entitlement are soon intertwined, as with LeBron James, raised by a single mother and a superstar by age 17, Daly was Older than Old School, a Depression Baby, through and through. For all the millions Daly made, and the clothes deals he got – if there was one irony in life he appreciated, it was that when you got money, all of a sudden, you didn’t need it – he never stopped being who he was.”
Ken Berger of CBSSports.com: “They will forever call it the Dream Team, but let’s not forget it had a dream coach, too. ‘That was a classic, a sweet spot for Chuck Daly,’ Jerry Colangelo, managing director of USA Basketball, said Saturday in a phone interview. ‘Having that group of players under those circumstances, was he was the perfect guy.’ The reaction and tributes pouring out after Daly’s death from pancreatic cancer Saturday at age 78 speak volumes about his influence. His former players and assistant coaches dot the basketball landscape, making it virtually impossible to find an NBA team or major college program that he didn’t touch in some way. He changed the way defense was played – not only in the postseason, but in the 82 games preceding it. He was as gentle as his teams were ferocious, always the kindest and best-dressed guy in the room. ‘Chuck was a great leader,’ Michael Jordan said Saturday in a statement released by the Charlotte Bobcats. ‘I only wish I could have played for him outside of the Dream Team.’”
Harvey Araton of The New York Times: “He was the ideal personality for that job, recognizing that there was no room on the flight across the Atlantic for an intrusive coach’s ego. Daly presided over that team by stoking the competitive fires of Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson, among others, mostly during hellacious practice scrimmages. The actual games were cakewalks; he never once called timeout. ‘If I needed anyone to give me credit for coaching those guys,’ he told me once, ‘I had no business being there in the first place.’ Along the way to Barcelona, after the Pistons had begun to cycle downward, Daly stopped over in New Jersey to sign with the Nets. The next preseason, I happened to be at a Nets-Pistons exhibition game in Michigan. Dennis Rodman, on his way to his permanent state of outlandish eccentricity, seemed to be protesting Daly’s departure. He came to the game but refused to dress. Daly spent the halftime break and then some more time afterward alone with Rodman, coaching him one last time.”
Jack McCallum of SI.com: “The principal way to define a coach is by wins, losses and championships won, and by that metric, of course, Chuck (638-437 in 13 seasons. 75-51 in the postseason, two championships) was an overwhelming success. But I choose to define Chuck this way — by the respect he earned from the smorgasbord of personalities over whom he held sway. With the possible exception of Phil Jackson — and I say possible — I can’t think of any other coach who would’ve held together that rowdy band of Pistons (Isiah Thomas, Bill Laimbeer, Vinnie Johnson, Rick Mahorn, John Salley, Dennis Rodman, and Joe Dumars, the latter being the lone voice of sanity) better than Chuck. I can’t think of any other coach who could’ve herded together that vast collection of Dream Team egos (Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Charles Barkley) and never got, as far as I heard, one word of criticism. After Chuck died, Matt Dobek, the Pistons public relations chief, was talking by phone with Larry Bird, who shared the Dream Team captaincy with Magic. ‘I loved that guy,’ Bird said of Chuck.”
Paul Flannery of WEEI.com: “He and Red Auerbach were very similar. You’d think when you called Red he’d give you a complicated answer, but they saw the game so simply. It’s a tough loss.’ Rivers had ample reason to call Daly often during his time with the Magic. They ran through 19 players his first year and then lost Grant Hill after only four games the following season. ‘At the time I thought the whole freaking sky is caving in and I’d call Chuck and he’d say something simple to you,’ Rivers said. ‘I thought that was his secret. He had a way of making complex things very simple.’ Like a lot of coaches, Rivers has his own inner circle of trusted advisers. He is close with San Antonio’s Gregg Popovich, for example, where Rivers served as an assistant for the Spurs. ‘Coaches lean of coaches,’ Rivers said. ‘Losing him now is going to leave a big void. He was special to the game. More importantly, he was just a great guy to be around.’”
Bradford Doolittle of Basketball Prospectus: “Daly led the Pistons to the most successful nine-year run in franchise history and the ‘88-89 Pistons, the first of the back-to-back title teams, was the best Detroit squad in NBA history. The Pistons were a losing team before Daly arrived on the scene. They won nine straight years. Then, the year after he left, they had a losing record and lost 62 games the season after that. As much as any of the great NBA championship teams, the Pistons were a product of the work, knowledge and scheming of their coach. And while that product was ultimately branded as the Bad Boys, Chuck Daly was one of the good guys. He will be missed and it is fitting that the NBA has dedicated this year’s playoff season to Daly. Of the various quotes about Daly that I’ve read, my favorite is this one, from the ceremony in which Detroit retired No. 2 in honor of its former coach. It was uttered by Rick Mahorn, he of the brutal fouls and menacing smile. He said simply, ‘Without you, there wouldn’t be us.’”
