Bob Cook

Now that the NBA opening nights have come and gone, we can be sure of this: Larry Brown, Phil Jackson and Flip Saunders will not be pursuing any opportunities with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

We also can be sure of this: of the three coaches who made the highest-profile moves to new jobs, Saunders might be the wisest for becoming coach of the Detroit Pistons. The job opened after Brown left to coach the New York Knicks. Meanwhile, Jackson was back with the Los Angeles Lakers, trying to rebuild the bridges he burned faster than General Sherman after his first tenure with the team ended.

It wasn't just that Saunders' Pistons whipped Philadelphia 108-88 Wednesday night, while Brown's Knicks folded in overtime for a 114-100 loss, and Jackson's Lakers squeaked by Denver with a 99-97 overtime victory. It's that Saunders' return had nothing to do with love — just business.

OK, it's not as if Brown and Jackson are coaching just for the joy, what with each accepting contracts that pay them up to $10 million a year, a record for NBA coaches. But Brown bolted Detroit after two seasons, one title and another Finals appearance, for his hometown Knicks and declared it his "dream job." Jackson wasn't so outwardly goo-goo-eyed, but the main reason he's back with the Lakers after an acrimonious 2004 split is because his girlfriend, Jeanie Buss, lobbied for his return.

She's influential, being the daughter of the Lakers' owner and all.

Saunders had the chance to coach to his hometown Cavaliers — as a top contender among a wide range of candidates that included Jackson, Chuck Daly, Norman Dale, Whoopi Goldberg as "Eddie" and the late Red Klotz — but turned it down in favor of Detroit. The Pistons just had a better team, LeBron James notwithstanding. Plus, coaching or playing in your hometown carries an enormous set of expectations, as people who intimately remember you as a success wonder why, when things inevitably go wrong, you can't seem to cut it.

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Saunders' opening night had the feel of roll-out-the-balls-and-play, with the usual cast of characters — Richard Hamilton, the Wallaces, Chauncey Billups, Tayshaun Prince — doing what they do so well. The major change in Detroit is that Darko Time strikes much earlier. Darko Milicic, the embattled No. 2 pick behind James and ahead of Carmelo Anthony and Dwyane Wade in the 2003 draft, finally played minutes when it mattered, coming in with 9:33 to go in the second quarter.

OK, he only scored 2 points, and he looked lost sometimes on defense, jumping away from his man too quick to help out on Allen Iverson, but by golly, the man finally gets to play! If he could play the role Mehmet Okur played for the Pistons a few years ago — hey, big man, go in for 15 minutes and don't screw up so the Wallaces can rest — Saunders would draw gold from what Brown generally saw as just dross.

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Speaking of dross, that Knicks lineup Brown sent out — yikes. Brown is known as a turnaround artist, but getting this Knicks team to the playoffs might be a bigger miracle than the time he got the Clippers into the postseason. The frontcourt was who-dat Matt Barnes, geriatric Antonio Davis and soft big man Eddy Curry. Starting point guard Stephon Marbury is the sort of petulant, shoot-first point guard who drives Brown crazy (see Allen Iverson). The starting off-guard was new acquisition Quentin Richardson, but Jamal Crawford, the definition of shooter without a conscience, got heavy minutes.

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