We'll Miss You Coach Daly

[Da Boss DJ Jo Corleone]

A lot went down this weekend in the NBA. The Cavs went up 3-0 against the Hawks, the Lakers look like the team I tried to warn everyone about, good but not great. My big brother says they’re this year's Seattle Supersonics (remember 1994), and my man Fred says they’re the NBA’s version of the Buffalo Bills. How do you get blown out by team whose without both their all stars? We also saw the refs blow a call that may have cost the Mavs the series. But the news of the weekend was the loss of an NBA great.
After his bout with pancreatic cancer Chuck Daly passed away at the age of 78 on Saturday morning. I have to keep it real growing up in the 80’s, I absolutely hated the Pistons, and I hated the bad boys. I hated Rodman, Isaiah, and Laimbeer. I hated everything Detroit except for the Barry Sanders and the Lions. I first hated them for the way they kept doing my Bulls, and then the finals against the Lakers.

Then came 1992, the first ever Dream Team was announced and the head coach just happened to be the coach of the first team I ever hated. However the minute Chuck Daly was named the coach I knew it was a great pick, because I knew what he was bringing to the table. The man defeated Clyde Drexler, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird in order to give the Pistons their two titles.

The only other coach that I felt could have done the job was Pat Riley, but considering how Daly’s Pistons did the Lakers I decided he was the perfect choice. And I even remember him as an analyst and how cool he was and my respect for him was huge. The fact was I hated the Pistons but I actually liked Chuck Daly and when I heard the news on Saturday I was saddened, like the rest of the basketball world. Then after I heard all the testimonies from all the different people in the NBA I realized that he was not only a great coach, but also apparently a great man, and he will be missed. Thank you Coach Daly for what you gave the world of basketball.