When Charles Matthews announced his return to the University of Michigan for next season, pulling out of the NBA Draft, Michigan fans thought that would be the last they'd have to deal with members of their team and an NBA decision. They were sorely mistaken. As of time of writing this, June 5th at noon, John Beilein is reportedly on the three-person shortlist for the Detroit Pistons job with Dwane Casey and Ime Udoka. The news breaking last Friday that Beilein had two interviews with the Pistons, and reportedly seems set for a third, has shaken the Michigan fanbase up a bit. What are all the components to this thought process by the Pistons? What about Coach Beilein? Are the Pistons even a fit at all? We look at this, and more.
Why the Move:
Coming off a fantastic NCAA Tournament run, red-hot recruiting momentum, and perhaps his best incoming class ever, combined with Matthews returning and Jalen Wilson's commitment for the 2019 class, the timing of this seems a bit odd. One of the thoughts is that perhaps money is involved. Beilein is still on contract through the 2020-21 season on a deal worth $3.4 million per year. Michigan's assistant coaches also make a combined $675,000 per year, which is low when you consider their impact on the team, and even lower when held up to Michigan State's staff (who make $820,000 combined per year, according to numbers from 2016) and Ohio State's new staff who, under Chris Holtmann, make slightly over a million dollars when combined.
With the amount of praise lavished on Luke Yaklich, for defensive work and recruiting, Saadi Washington, for recruiting work in Michigan and big man development, and DeAndre Haynes, for player development and helping the guards come along, they seem to be well in order for a raise even just a year into the stints at Michigan, or two in Washington's case. If attempting to gain this sort of leverage over extension talks that have been reportedly already underway were the reason, or one of the reasons, Beilein was meeting with the Pistons, it would surely be logical. This added pressure on athletic director Warde Manuel certainly would make him spring into action quicker. Combined with the outcry of support in favor of Beilein and his staff since this news has broke and it would seem that a new extension drafted up by Manuel for Beilein, and some new contracts for the current staff, are well in order.
We can claim leverage and write it off at that, but that is a shallow dive into the matter. The fact is that no one takes two, potentially three, job interviews for a job they're never going to consider. Beilein turned 65 years old earlier this year and the question of how long will he continue to coach lingers. At the time of signing his first extension, some thought he would see the contract out and then retire. That would mean only three more years of coaching, which does not seem like much given how he is coming off one of the best stretches of his career and couldn't be hotter as the cleanest coach in the NCAA with the FBI scandal all around him.
No one will argue against John Beilein being one of the best offensive minds in the sport. Even with a team whose defense outshone its offense last season, there was still so much to love about how the offense worked. Perhaps he wishes to try his hand at the highest level of basketball on the planet. Brad Stevens, the ex-Butler coach and current head man for the Boston Celtics, is perhaps the poster child of coaches leaving the NCAA for the NBA, but he still has what could be multiple decades left in his coaching career. The argument of longevity works both ways for Beilein as he either, a, surely wouldn't uproot his current career as a college coach as it comes to a close for an NBA job now, or, b, as he understands his career is reaching its twilight, time is at a premium and its now-or-never to see how he would do in the NBA. The logic behind any of these covered reasons seems to make sense to me.
Of course, the other question is why the Pistons? Well first and foremost, it makes sense that if Beilein were to consider an NBA job, it would be in the state of his current employer. Likewise for the Pistons, they have seen up close and personally and heard the hype surrounding Coach Beilein. The Pistons are, in the new NBA of fast offenses and three-point shooting with hybrid big men who can do it all, sort of a weird beast. Why is that?
The Case of the Pistons:
Why the Move:
Coming off a fantastic NCAA Tournament run, red-hot recruiting momentum, and perhaps his best incoming class ever, combined with Matthews returning and Jalen Wilson's commitment for the 2019 class, the timing of this seems a bit odd. One of the thoughts is that perhaps money is involved. Beilein is still on contract through the 2020-21 season on a deal worth $3.4 million per year. Michigan's assistant coaches also make a combined $675,000 per year, which is low when you consider their impact on the team, and even lower when held up to Michigan State's staff (who make $820,000 combined per year, according to numbers from 2016) and Ohio State's new staff who, under Chris Holtmann, make slightly over a million dollars when combined.
With the amount of praise lavished on Luke Yaklich, for defensive work and recruiting, Saadi Washington, for recruiting work in Michigan and big man development, and DeAndre Haynes, for player development and helping the guards come along, they seem to be well in order for a raise even just a year into the stints at Michigan, or two in Washington's case. If attempting to gain this sort of leverage over extension talks that have been reportedly already underway were the reason, or one of the reasons, Beilein was meeting with the Pistons, it would surely be logical. This added pressure on athletic director Warde Manuel certainly would make him spring into action quicker. Combined with the outcry of support in favor of Beilein and his staff since this news has broke and it would seem that a new extension drafted up by Manuel for Beilein, and some new contracts for the current staff, are well in order.
We can claim leverage and write it off at that, but that is a shallow dive into the matter. The fact is that no one takes two, potentially three, job interviews for a job they're never going to consider. Beilein turned 65 years old earlier this year and the question of how long will he continue to coach lingers. At the time of signing his first extension, some thought he would see the contract out and then retire. That would mean only three more years of coaching, which does not seem like much given how he is coming off one of the best stretches of his career and couldn't be hotter as the cleanest coach in the NCAA with the FBI scandal all around him.
No one will argue against John Beilein being one of the best offensive minds in the sport. Even with a team whose defense outshone its offense last season, there was still so much to love about how the offense worked. Perhaps he wishes to try his hand at the highest level of basketball on the planet. Brad Stevens, the ex-Butler coach and current head man for the Boston Celtics, is perhaps the poster child of coaches leaving the NCAA for the NBA, but he still has what could be multiple decades left in his coaching career. The argument of longevity works both ways for Beilein as he either, a, surely wouldn't uproot his current career as a college coach as it comes to a close for an NBA job now, or, b, as he understands his career is reaching its twilight, time is at a premium and its now-or-never to see how he would do in the NBA. The logic behind any of these covered reasons seems to make sense to me.
Of course, the other question is why the Pistons? Well first and foremost, it makes sense that if Beilein were to consider an NBA job, it would be in the state of his current employer. Likewise for the Pistons, they have seen up close and personally and heard the hype surrounding Coach Beilein. The Pistons are, in the new NBA of fast offenses and three-point shooting with hybrid big men who can do it all, sort of a weird beast. Why is that?
The Case of the Pistons:
The Pistons, at times last season, looked like a very solid team with strong playoff aspirations. Then point guard Reggie Jackson got hurt and effectively halted any positive momentum. They attempted the bold move of trading away two starters, Avery Bradley and Tobias Harris, in a deal where they acquired Blake Griffin to play alongside Andre Drummond. It worked at times, but the Pistons couldn't capitalize off a 14-6 start to the season and missed the playoffs for the eighth time in ten years, both appearances coming as an eight seed. A far way off from the 'Goin' to Work' era Pistons of the 2000s, or 'Bad Boys' of the late-80s and early-90s. The Stan Van Gundy experiment had been a failure amidst draft misses and the Griffin deal essentially hand-cuffing them salary wise. He was fired along with GM Jeff Bower at the end of the season.
John Beilein's offense has been typecast as one that needs elite shooters, and thus it is pointed at as having a likelihood to fail with this Pistons roster. Reggie Bullock and Luke Kennard are outstanding shooters, as is Anthony Tolliver, but Tolliver has a high probability of leaving the Pistons and the three keys pieces of the team next year (Jackson, Griffin, Drummond) shoot the ball from outside on a scale from 'poorly' to 'not at all'. The roster is a odd especially in today's NBA, and Beilein would not have full control over bringing in players as he does in the recruiting world as a collegiate head coach, but his offense isn't hard-line and unflexing. Instead, it can mold around players and teams. Michigan did not have a huge quantity of elite shooters on this year's team, but they still had several fantastic games on offense and did very well, obviously. Players like Jordan Morgan, who shot a total of zero threes in four years at Michigan, and Mitch McGary, who shot two threes in two years, missing both, were able to thrive in successful Beilein teams as well. A lack of three-point shooting from big men is not as big of a problem as many may think in the matching of Beilein and the Pistons.
The only question remaining is if he'd want to move from coaching college kids to professional adults. Beilein emphasizes the fundamentals of basketball on a huge level spending time on them. Things like cutting, pivoting, chest passes, all of these things players seem to know intrinsically, and all of them are taught year-in and year-out by Beilein. How receptive would Reggie Jackson be to this sort of thing? Or the two big men in the post? Surely it would make them better, and they would be smart to recognize this as well, but there is a difference between recognizing this and recognizing AND acknowledging this. There is a culture shock between collegiate and professional basketball. If John Beilein is willing to undergo it and leave a university and town that loves him, he deserves massive respect for trying something new. Of course, all Michigan fans will hope he isn't so eager to make the jump and come November, he'll be manning the sideline of Crisler Arena, and not in Detroit.
Follow me on Twitter @RMABTweets. I Tweet out all my stories as well as other play-by-play content for live games and other general content.
Follow me on Twitter @RMABTweets. I Tweet out all my stories as well as other play-by-play content for live games and other general content.
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