Gentry putting staff of
coaches together
By Chris McCosky / The
Detroit News
AUBURN HILLS -- Alvin
Gentry's first Pistons
coaching staff is nearly in
place.
Gar Heard, former Dallas
head coach who was on Larry
Brown's staff in
Philadelphia last season,
accepted a three-year offer
from the Pistons on Friday.
Former Minnesota head coach
Bill Blair is expected to
join the staff early this
week.
Gentry also is hopeful
of adding Bobby Ociepka to
the staff this week.
Ociepka, a highly regarded
advance scout, was on Chuck
Daly's staff in Orlando last
season. He also has coached
in Philadelphia, Indiana and
with the Los Angeles
Clippers.
Those three, plus John
Hammond who has been with
the Pistons since 1994,
provide Gentry with an
unusually experienced staff.
"If people want to
perceive this as a situation
where the assistants are
running the show, I don't
care," Gentry said. "All I
care about is winning games.
I told Mr. D. (Pistons owner
Bill Davidson) that I was
going to try to bring in the
best staff that I could."
Gentry also said he
would not designate a lead
assistant.
"Everybody is equal," he
said. "Nobody is going to be
above grabbing rebounds or
passing the ball on shooting
drills. Nobody is going to
be above drawing up plays on
a chalkboard or addressing
the team before the game."
In other news, with
Christian Laettner likely to
miss the entire season with
a torn Achilles tendon, the
Pistons will have to look
elsewhere for a power
forward -- which is their
No. 1 free agent priority.
The Pistons would be
interested in Tom Gugliotta,
but not in the $100-million
contract he is likely to
command.
So it is likely the
Pistons, once the lockout is
lifted, will consider
Derrick Coleman. Coleman was
bought out of his contract
by Philadelphia for $5.5
million and is a free agent.
Had the Sixers retained him,
he would have earned $13
million. Thus, Coleman's
initial asking price will be
$7.5 million.
Copyright 1998
The Detroit News