Flip Saunders Is a Tough Act for a Coach to Follow

Flip Saunders might feel a bit vindicated right now. The Detroit Pistons fired Michael Curry on Tuesday after one season, continuing a troubling trend for the men who follow the current Wizards' coach.

Joe Dumars, the team's president of basketball operations, dismissed Saunders in June 2008 after losing in the Eastern Conference finals for the third consecutive year because Dumars reportedly wanted to hire someone who would hold his players more accountable.

Detroit hired Saunders's former assistant, Curry, and remade the Pistons at the start of the season when he traded Chauncey Billups to Denver for Allen Iverson. The Iverson experiment was a disaster, compounded by Curry's alienation of Richard Hamilton when he benched Hamilton in favor of Iverson.

That decision eventually led to Curry losing the entire team, especially its core veterans. Curry later upset Iverson when he decided to move Hamilton back into the starting lineup. Iverson then quit on the team . . . um, make that developed a back problem, which forced him to end his season. Detroit Free Press columnist Drew Sharp broke down the breakdown between Curry and Hamilton, which contributed to Curry's ouster because he didn't appear open to making amends.

Curry went 39-43 in his only season, and Cleveland swept the Pistons in the first round.

Dumars told reporters that he might have "put too much on Mike as a first-year head coach." He's now in search of a veteran, with former Wizards/Bulls/Pistons coach Doug Collins reportedly ahead of Avery Johnson and John Kuester.

Dumars has had five coaches since taking over the team -- George Irvine, Rick Carlisle, Larry Brown, Saunders and Curry. Saunders lasted the longest (three years) and had the best regular season winning percentage of any of them. Since it is obvious that the players run the show in Detroit, Saunders should get credit for lasting as long as he did.

The coach who eventually follows Saunders in Washington might be in trouble. This is the second time that Saunders's replacement didn't make it to his second season with the team. Dwane Casey was fired after 40 games with Minnesota, and now Curry gets just 82.

It's tough to follow Flip.

-- Michael Lee