re: Pelicans receive permission to speak with Alvin Gentry

Food for thought...granted, Gentry was fired from the Pistons 15 years ago...the question is whether or not he has learned anything over the years. To me, this sounds like "great assistant" not "head coach":

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Now, ask me if Alvin knows his stuff, I'll say yes. Ask me if he's a good guy, I'll say he's a wonderful guy. Principled, honest, genial.

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Gentry wanted to coach that way here -- let the star rule, and make sure the machine is well-oiled. But Hill is not that kind of player.

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So Hill deferred to Gentry, as he deferred to Doug Collins before him -- only, unlike Collins, Gentry deferred too much in return. According to Pistons players, Gentry threatened benchings, but rarely followed through. He became the parent, repeating the warning, "If you do that one more time, I'm going to spank you."

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"You could see the little things," said Joe Dumars, the Pistons' new vice president, who struggled personally with the decision to let Gentry go, partly because last year at this time, Dumars was playing for him. "When winnable games are lost, when players' body language slumps, when they lose home games that they absolutely should win -- then you say 'There's a problem going on here.'

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