The NBA Finals date back to 1947 (when they were known as the Basketball Association of America Finals) and the very 1st NCAA tourney was held in 1939. Olympic basketball competition is even older: it debuted as a demonstration event in 1904 and the men’s version became a medal sport in 1936, with the women finally getting their chance to go for the gold in 1976. The United States has dominated Olympic basketball competition from the start: the men have won 15 gold medals in the 18 tournaments they have participated in during the past 84 years, while the women have won 8 gold medals in the 10 tournaments in which they have competed during the past 44 years. Those of you who were looking forward to the 2020 Olympics opening ceremonies in Tokyo on July 24, 2020 will have to wait an extra 364 days, as the coronavirus caused a postponement until July 23, 2021. Due to the absence of college basketball since mid-March, HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel decided to fill the void by trying to interview as many prior Olympic players/coaches as possible so that you have something to read this summer while not watching the Summer Games. We continue our coverage by chatting with Pat Williams, co-author of “Daly Wisdom: Life Lessons from Dream Team coach and Hall-of-Famer Chuck Daly” about his longtime friend winning a gold medal in 1992. Today would have been Daly’s 90th birthday so we are proud to celebrate his memory.
Daly made 3 Finals 4s from 1963-1966 as an assistant to Vic Bubas at Duke, won Ivy league titles during each of his 1st 4 years as head coach at Penn from 1971-1974, and even though he left the college game in 1977 he was responsible for recruiting all 5 starters on the Quakers’ 1979 Final 4 team: how good of a college coach was he, and why did he decide to eventually make the leap to the NBA? He was a longtime high school coach and did not get into college coaching until he was in his 40s. He was the key guy for Bubas, who saw something in him. He paid his dues before succeeding Bob Cousy at BC in 1969 and then taking the Penn job. Billy Cunningham replaced Gene Shue as 76ers head coach in 1977 and Billy said he wanted Chuck to be 1 of his assistants. I sat down with Chuck and he said that he was interested so we signed him for $35,000. He would always tease me about that later on but I told him that he chose to take it. He learned the ropes from Billy and became head coach of Cleveland a few years later, but it was a disaster so he returned to Philly and joined our broadcasting crew before Jack McCloskey gave him another chance in Detroit, which led to his marvelous run.
In Game 5 of the 1987 Eastern Conference Finals as coach of Detroit, Larry Bird stole Isiah Thomas’ inbound pass and found Dennis Johnson for the game-winning layup with 1 second left in a 1-PT win by Boston: where does that rank among the most devastating losses of his career? I would think that it was very painful and has to be right at the top. The Pistons had a wonderful collection of talent and started to earn their way and grow as a team…and it eventually paid off.
In Game 6 of the 1988 NBA Finals Thomas scored a Finals record 25 PTS in the 3rd quarter despite a severely sprained ankle but Kareem Abdul-Jabbar made the game-winning FTs with 14 seconds left in a 1-PT win by the Lakers: how close did the Pistons come to winning 3 straight titles? Extremely close! That would have put him in very rare air with the Celtics/Bulls. I think that 1988 set the stage for the next 2 years after learning from that loss.
In the 1989 NBA Finals they swept the 2-time defending champs to clinch the title: what did it mean to him to win a title? It is hard to put it into words but it means the world to any coach/player. All they talk about is wanting a ring, which he finally got.
In Game 5 of the 1990 NBA Finals Vinnie Johnson made the title-winning shot with 0.7 seconds left to cap a 9-0 run in the final 2 minutes of a 2-PT win at Portland: did that win elevate him into another level of coaches (as he became the 5th NBA coach to ever win back-to-back titles)? To come back and do it again was very special. It definitely put him in rare air and put him in a position to coach the Olympic team. The greatest tribute to Chuck was his ability to get along with his players. He had such a magnetism about him to work with people no matter how famous they were. All of his players liked/respected him even when he got on them.
He made the playoffs during each of 9 years in Detroit from 1984-1992: how was he able to remain so consistent despite having a team full of big personalities including Bill Laimbeer/Rick Mahorn/Dennis Rodman? The great John Wooden once said that you cannot win without talent. The key to his success at UCLA was talent, talent, talent…but not everybody can coach talent because it is not an easy task. That would also describe Chuck: talented players can have issues and be very independent thinkers and demanding. He had the ability to convince these guys to sacrifice part of their individual success for the good of the team, which is a very rare quality. Chuck once told me that he was not a coach but rather a salesman. He sold the players on sacrifice, then sold the press so that they would sell the fans.
He coached the Dream Team at the 1992 Olympics: what did it mean to him to win a gold medal, and do you agree with those who consider it “the greatest sports team ever assembled”? Yes: there was nothing quite like that team and there never will be again. When you put 11 of the best players ever on a single team it was absolutely magical. I think that Chuck was the only guy who could have coached that team: the players respected his success in Detroit and he looked the part. He was taller than people thought and had the best hair in the world: it was just spectacular! He was also a magician with his wardrobe and always looking for that next suit or the perfect tie. I went shopping with him 1 time and it was like going with the world’s expert. He was very particular about his clothing/cologne: you smelled him before you saw him and I never saw a single hair out of place. He just looked like a coach/prince and took great pride in that. He never had a bad-looking night and was just the right guy at just the right time. If that Olympic experiment had not gone well then I do not know what the future would have held for him.
Was there any friction between him and his star PG after Isiah was left off the Dream Team despite helping lead the Piston to a pair of titles just a couple of years earlier? Chuck never talked about that but I know that Isiah absolutely adored him and had great respect for him. Chuck mentioned 1 time when the Pistons were struggling and during a timeout he turned to Isiah and said, “What is it you do best?” Isiah said, “I lead” and Chuck responded, “Well then _____ _____ lead!” The point was that Isiah was the leader of the team as a talented PG and Chuck was giving him the authority to lead. Chuck always listened to his players: if someone said they could get open in a specific spot then he would try to make it happen. When Chuck was an assistant in Philly Julius Erving would tell him where he wanted the ball and Chuck listened to him. He was not so stuck in his genius: he would listen to the guys who were out on the court.
In your book you share many insights from Daly: how do you think that he compares to other visionaries like Walt Disney/John Wooden? Now you are talking about 2 of the greatest leaders of all-time. When you study every coach in the history of sports you have to rank Wooden #1, and Disney is clearly the #1 entertainment mogul of all-time. When you look at the best NBA coaches ever you are looking at Red Auerbach/Phil Jackson/Gregg Popovich/Pat Riley…and Chuck is among them.
He was inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame in 1994, inducted into the College Hall of Fame in 2006, and in 2010 he was posthumously inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame for the 2nd time as coach of the Dream Team: when people look back on his career, how do you think that he should be remembered the most? As a very solid NBA coach who led the Dream Team to a gold medal. He also was a developer of coaches who came under his tutelage and went on to have good careers due to his mentorship. He was a beloved husband/father and is missed by all. The entire basketball world was at his funeral: it was a veritable who’s who of basketball people, which is the ultimate tribute.
If you would like to read Pat’s book about Daly then you can find it at: www.amazon.com/Daly-Wisdom-lessons-hall-famer/dp/1599321637
