Sources: Pistons close to hiring Kuester...

Even though Avery Johnson is the more qualified candidate and also a better fit for the Detroit Pistons they have decided to go in another route by hiring Cleveland Cavaliers assistant John Kuester. This move doesn't make much sense but GM Joe Dumars is making the move based on where the team is at right now and how long Johnson wanted to be the coach. Avery Johnson wanted to be paid around $20 million over 4 years but good old Dumars said that was to much and too long for a team in a transition mode, so he decided to go with an inexperienced coach, Kuester, from a team that is only good because of Lebron James.
What really doesn't make sense is that Dumars last year hired an inexperienced first year head coach in Michael Curry and than fired him because he felt the team needed a more veteran coach to lead them. So in Dumars' own words Avery Johnson was the perfect fit for the job, the guy has been to the NBA Finals, he has won coach of the year, and oh yeah he's been a head coach before. If you say you are looking for a veteran coach with experience, the market is pretty thin with Avery Johnson at the top of the list, you have to be willing to pay especially after Dumars has fired 3 experienced head coaches that didn't deserve to be fired. John Kuester has previous ties to the Pistons, he was an assistant during the Larry Brown days, but it seems his offensive philosophy is the key to this hire.
So this latest move by the Pistons proves they are a team that is in transition for better or for worse and right now I'm not sure if Joe Dumars has a direction for this team. He has completely changed the look and philosophy of this team in 4 steps: traded Billups for Iverson, fired Curry and hired Kuester, signed Ben Gordon, and finally they signed Charlie Villanueva which indicates that the Pistons want to get more offensive. Dumars originally wanted an experienced coach to lead the team through their current transition but he apparently wanted a more offensive minded coach and Avery Johnson wasn't going to provide that for them which is a shame because he really could have turned the Pistons into a title contender within the next few years.