Sports Poets Society

DETROIT PISTONS 2004-05 MEDIA GUIDE With a basketball resume that includes 32 years of coaching at the collegiate or professional level, enshrinement into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame’s Class of 2002, three ABA Coach of the Year awards, 2001 NBA Coach of the Year honors, an NCAA Championship in 1988 and a NBA Championship in 2004, Larry Brown continues adding achievements to an outstanding coaching career. Named the Pistons’ 24th head coach in franchise history on June 2, 2003, Brown reached the pinnacle of NBA success, guiding the 2003-04 Detroit Pistons to the NBA Championship in his first year as head coach.  He became the first coach to win a NCAA and NBA Championship and the 12th coach in NBA history to win an NBA title in his first season with a club .  Brown has coached a NBA record seven different teams to the NBA Playoffs and ranks fourth among all-time NBA coaches in playoff wins (85).  He won his 900th career NBA game last season, becoming the...

DETROIT PISTONS 2004-05 MEDIA GUIDE During the 2003-04 sports year, Detroit Pistons Managing Partner William Davidson became the first owner in sports history to win championships in three different professional leagues.  The Pistons returned to glory, winning the organization’s third championship in franchise history, the Tampa Bay Lightning won their first Stanley Cup and the Shock won their first WNBA Championship.  Recognized as one of the most successful owners in the National Basketball Association for over 30 years, Detroit's 1989, 1990 and 2004 World Championships can be directly attributed to Davidson. He has been the club's majority owner since 1974, and, under his direction, the Pistons have been considered one of the league's elite franchises for over 15 years. He continues to keep the team at the league’s forefront with such amenities as a state-of-the-art practice facility, solely designed for the Pistons. Team members are able to use the facilities all summer...

General Manager Jack McCloskey, right, signing Isiah Thomas,  the Pistons’ first-round draft choice, to a contract in 1981.  Credit...Mary Schroeder/Detroit Free Press https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/02/sports/basketball/jack-mccloskey-dead-pistons-general-manager.html By Daniel E. Slotnik June 2, 2017 Jack McCloskey, whose canny decisions and steady leadership as general manager of the Detroit Pistons paved the way for their first two National Basketball Association championships, in 1989 and ’90, died on Thursday in Savannah, Ga. He was 91. His death, at a hospice care facility near his home in Savannah, was caused by complications of Alzheimer’s disease, his wife, Leslie, said. When Mr. McCloskey joined the Pistons in December 1979 , the team was on its way to the worst record in the N.B.A., at 16-66 . The franchise was also on its 19th coach since it had joined the league as the Fort Wayne Pistons from Indiana in 1948. The Pistons had not played in the finals since 1956. M...