Hoops4theSoul

May

9

5-9-2009: Rest in Peace Chuck Daley

Filed Under On This Day . . ., NBA, Chicago Bulls, Loose Balls

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Chuck Daley (ViewImages) Joe Dumars Guarding Michael Jordan Chuck Daley (View Images) Growing up in Chicago as Michael Jordan and his Bulls were denied by the Detroit Pistons three straight years in the Eastern Conference Finals before finally breaking through in 1991, I never would have thought that so many people whom I grew up admiring would have so many nice things to say about a former nemesis in Chuck Daley.

Daley, who led Detroit to back-to-back titles in 1989 and 1990 and coached the Dream Team to gold in the 1992 Summer Olympics, passed away earlier today from pancreatic cancer. He was 79 years old.

From Jordan to former Bulls coach Phil Jackson, the NBA’s most powerful and revered figures are singing the praises of Daley as a tactician, leader of men, father figure, fashionable dresser and most importantly, classy human being.

Jordan was quoted as saying that it was “a shame” he did not get to play for Daley besides the amazing 1992 Dream Team.

Jackson noted that despite all of the coaching battles that Daley and he waged during one of the greatest rivalries of the late eighties and early nineties, the former Pistons coach was a “good guy,” a member of “the coaching fraternity” who always “extended a helping hand.”

Charles Barkely, who engaged in his fair share of battles with Detroit’s physically-menacing frontline of Bill Laimbeer, Rick Mahorn and Dennis Rodman, was quoted as saying that he “never understood how a great man and nice guy coached the Bad Boys.”

Other greats who faced Detroit in the eighties, including Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, echoed similar praises of Daley, offering further testament to the man that Daley was.

It says a lot about Chuck Daley the human being when former rivals can completely disregard the heated competition and bitter feelings from the past and only say great things about you.

When I was a kid, the Bad Boys were a frightening team that roughed up the Bulls in many playoffs. The Pistons were ruthless, doing anything it took to intimidate and win.

They played in the menacing Palace of Auburn Hills and were serenaded onto the floor by the horrific “Final Countdown” tune, which still gives me nightmares.

I hated Detroit’s teams back then — from Isiah Thomas and Rodman to Mark Aguirre and the biggest jerk of them all, Laimbeer. Since Daley was the Head Coach of those Pistons’ teams, I hated him as well, not for who he was but rather how his team bullied the Bulls.

Daley and the Pistons invented “The Jordan Rules,” which basically stood for putting Jordan on the ground anytime he got into the lane.

For three years, Daley and the Pistons denied the Bulls by beating them up and getting into their heads.

When the Bulls finally swept the Pistons in the 1991 Eastern Conference Finals, there was the awful sight of Thomas, Laimbeer and other Bad Boys walking off the court with 7.9 seconds left and failing to acknowledge or congratulate the victors from Chicago.

Back then, while you may not have liked your rivals, you still shook their hands and paid your respects when a hard-fought series was over. The Celtics did it when Detroit finally beat them in 1988.

With the exception of Detroit’s Joe Dumars, John Salley and Scott Hastings taking the time to congratulate the Bulls for finally earning their rite of passage after the sweep in 1991, Detroit’s other stars — most notably Thomas and Laimbeer — displayed a lack of class in snubbing the Bulls.  They came off as sore losers.

Such disrespect and poor sportsmanship were indicative of the true characters of some of those Bad Boys, but not that of Daley’s.

In fact, when you looked at what some of those Bad Boys were on and off the court, it’s a testament to Daley’ s ability to bring so many different egos together and win not only one but two championships.

Had it not been for a late collapse in Game Six of the 1988 NBA Finals, the Pistons would have won three-straight championships.

Just as Jackson would become years later in Chicago, Daley was more than a coach but a father-figure for Rodman, the game’s greatest rebounder and one of the most eccentric and dirty players of all time.

To all accounts, Daley seemed to be what a coach should be: a leader who got his players to believe, sacrifice and follow, and a mentor whose lessons extended well beyond the basketball court.

While I may not have grasped the impact of Daley on his players and everyone else around the game of basketball when his Pistons were literally and figuratively beating my childhood heroes on the Bulls, I now understand it in his passing.

With that said, here are some nice tributes to Chuck Daley (1930-2009):

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