Poor Adrian Dantley. He had an opportunity to be the head coach tonight with the absence of Coach Karl due to flu-like symptoms. All AD had to do was operate the Nuggets' playbook, and most assuredly he'd have a home win under his belt. Unfortunately for AD, the Nuggets DON'T HAVE a playbook - which was evident in tonight's home loss to the Detroit Pistons.As I watched the Nuggets playoff chances continue to circle the drain, I couldn't help but reminisce about the wondrous past performances by Nuggets interim coaches.
Denver Nuggets Interim Head Coach Hall of Fame...
2005-06 - Scott Brooks coaches the Nuggets to a 1-2 opening record, filling in for Coach Karl who was suspended for the first three games for violating NBA Draft rules. Brooks found the experience to be quite disheartening, as he was mistaken for the ball boy in each game.
2003-04 - Michael Cooper goes 4-10 after Jeff Bzdelik got canned. Coop quickly realized that running the L.A. Sparks offensive sets just don't seem to work in the NBA.
2001-02 - Mike Evans - a valuable role player for the Nuggets in the 1980s - goes 18-38 after Dan Issel resigned for calling a fan a "Mexican piece of shit." To this day, I don't know who planted that fan in the stadium to get Issel so riled up, but all of us Nuggets fans are eternally grateful.
1996-97 - Dick Motta goes 17-52 taking over for Bernie Bickerstaff, after Bickerstaff fire-bombed the entire Nuggets organization. Motta enjoyed the exerience, as it allowed him to pad his losses and place him third in all-time NBA coaching losses.
1994-95 - Gene Littles guides the Nuggets to a 3-13 record as Dan Issel quit on the team (the first of two times) after 34 games. Littles just wanted to make sure the bar was set so low that we'd be duped into thinking Bernie Bickerstaff knew what he was doing for the remainder of the season. I'll write more on the Issel/Bernie era later. I don't have 8 hours of writing in me right now...