Curry wants shot as head coach By
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on October 21, 2007 at 2:21 AM, updated October 21, 2007 at 2:22 AM

AUBURN HILLS -- No matter what team Michael Curry played for, rarely was he the fastest, strongest or tallest player on his team.

But when it came time to play, keeping the 6-foot-5 forward off the floor proved difficult if you wanted to win.

There were times when he would set a screen on the baseline that freed up a shooter for a game-winning basket; or he would take just the right angle defensively to deflect a pass intended for a shooter who was wide open.

Curry carved out an 11-year NBA career making those kind of plays -- "the dirty work," as he calls it -- because he understood that was the only way he would get a chance to play and help teams win.

Now in his first season as a Detroit Pistons assistant, the 39-year-old brings a similar mindset to his current job that he hopes will someday land him a head coaching gig.

"I definitely aspire to be a head coach one day," said Curry, who spent last year as the NBA Development League's Vice President of Player Development.

For now, the Augusta, Ga. native is focused on helping the Pistons get back to the NBA Finals after they failed to do so in each of the past two seasons.

"There aren't too many teams like us, teams that know from the first day of training camp that you have a chance to win it all," Curry said. "It's good to know, but you can't take it for granted. You still have to go out there and play the game."

Proving his worth has been an ongoing motivation for Curry, who was undrafted in 1990 after a standout career at Georgia Southern. Curry bounced around in Germany, Belgium, France, the United States Basketball League, Italy and the Continental Basketball Association before eventually sticking in the NBA.

But being in the NBA wasn't enough for Curry.

He soon found himself thrust into positions of leadership that ultimately led to him being named president of the NBA player's union.

"You have a soft spot for guys that came up the way he did," said Flip Saunders, who spent seven seasons as a CBA coach (1988-1995) prior to his first NBA head coaching job in Minnesota.

While Curry's path to the NBA has not been easy, he's thankful for all the ups and downs along the way.

"It's a privilege to be here, whether you're drafted or undrafted," Curry said. "There's a lot of good players who don't get an opportunity to be here."

Not taking anything for granted is among the many lessons Curry wants Detroit's younger players to understand.

Prior to a recent game, Curry was on the court hours before tip-off working with the team's rookies and a few reserves.

He was instructing them how to come off a screen, catch the ball and shoot.

When they didn't come off the screen as sharp as Curry wanted them to, he'd let them know.

When they didn't catch the ball as cleanly as they should have, he'd say something about that, too.

And the shot?

Whether it went in or not, wasn't important. Doing all the "little things" to get that shot off cleanly, was the point.

"Young players don't really understand that it's the little things that can mean the difference between having an opportunity to make a great play, or not," Curry said. "If you don't do the little things that it takes to get off that game-winning shot, there won't be a game-winning shot to take."

Chauncey Billups has fond memories of when he and Curry were teammates.

To see him as an assistant, Billups said, isn't surprising.

"Oh, you could definitely tell that this day was coming, sooner or later," said Billups, who played with Curry during the 2002-2003 season. "You could just tell in the way he talked about the game, the way he dealt with us his teammates, that he was a coach in the making."

Curry's success as a player came about because he placed a high value on doing the "little things," a message he has been preaching to this current group of Pistons.

So far, he's getting through loud and clear.

"You can tell he knows a lot about the little things you have to do out there to be successful," said Detroit's prized rookie, Rodney Stuckey.

Curry believes having a healthy understanding and appreciation for those little things will go a long way towards Detroit remaining one of the NBA's elite teams this season.

"I've always been really big on the little things that go undetected in the whole scheme of the game, but are essential to getting a win," Curry said. "The way I prepare, the way I work, paying attention to detail and the small things ... I bring that to the table to these guys everyday."

A. Sherrod Blakely can be reached at , or his weblog