You do not have the correct version of the Flash Player Plugin. Click here to get it.
It hasn't happened since the 1978-79 season, but there was a time when NBA owners, in need of a new coach, would turn the keys to the kingdom over to somebody already associated with the team - one of their players.
Buddy Jeanette of the Baltimore Bullets was the first to turn the trick in the NBA, acting as player-coach for three seasons from 1947-50. The Bullets won the championship during his first season - a season which also saw him named to the All-League second team.
The Detroit Pistons tapped one of their own on just one occasion, Nov. 10, 1964, when 24-year-old Dave DeBusschere became the youngest head coach in league history. He replaced Charles Wolf, who had gutted the Pistons in the off-season, sending three of the squad's top four scorers (Bailey Howell, Don Ohl and Bob Ferry) to Baltimore. While tinkering with a roster that finished the previous season with a 23-57 record can perhaps be excused, the 2-9 start to the 1964-65 campaign could not, and it was DeBusschere's job to right the ship.
Detroit won his first game as player-coach in a 119-117 win over the Bullets. DeBusschere scored 26 points and the Pistons won three of their next four games, but reality quickly set in as the team limped to the finish line with a 31-49 overall record. Still, the 29-40 mark under DeBusschere was appreciably better than the 25-68 record of the previous administration, giving Pistons fans an optimistic outlook for the future.
Unfortunately, two major events intervened to hamper DeBusschere's efforts the following year. The first came courtesy of the United States Army, which called upon the services of Terry Dischinger, the Pistons' leading scorer from the previous year, causing him to miss the next two NBA seasons. The second came courtesy of the team's leading rebounder, Reggie Harding, whose penchant for involvement in criminal activities got him suspended for the season.
The year started off poorly with two losing streaks of eight or more games in the season's first two months, and ended with just four wins in the final 23 games of the year. The 22-58 record was the worst in franchise history at the time, but once again, Pistons fans could be excused if they were overly optimistic as they looked toward the off-season - their league-worst record gave them a great chance to acquire the rights to Michigan All-American Cazzie Russell in the following year's draft.
Fate again intervened as the Pistons lost a coin flip with the New York Knickerbockers for the rights to Russell. Instead, DeBusschere and company had to "settle" for a 6-3 guard from Syracuse named Dave Bing.
As it turned out, losing that coin flip might have been the best thing to happen to DeBusschere's coaching career as Bing went on to win the league's Rookie of the Year award and play in seven All-Star games during his 12 years in the NBA, nine with the Pistons.
If only DeBusschere had remained the coach of record. On March 7, 1967, he handed over the reins to Donnis Butcher after posting a 28-45 mark in his final season as a coach and "retiring" with an overall record of 79-143.
