Central Notes: Casey, Nwaba, Bulls, Pacers

While Dwane Casey was always viewed as a strong candidate for the Pistons‘ head coaching job, right up until the team hired him on Monday, the former Raptors coach seriously considered taking a year off, tweets Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca. As Lewenberg observes though, the Pistons really sold Casey on their situation, and sitting around isn’t really in his nature anyway.

TNT’s David Aldridge provides further context on Casey’s decision, tweeting that the veteran coach wasn’t inclined to accept the job as recently as Saturday morning. However, Pistons ownership and management – led by Tom Gores – put the “full-court press” on in order to finalize a deal.

According to Aldridge, one concession the Pistons made was letting Casey pick his assistants. Vince Ellis of The Detroit Free Press (Twitter link) hears from a source that there was no pressure from ownership to pick Casey’s assistants for him, and Aldridge notes the team’s denial, but insists that multiple sources say otherwise (Twitter link). As Aldridge notes, it wouldn’t have been unprecedented for Casey to inherit some assistants that Pistons management likes, and it’s possible he’ll do just that, but he won’t be obligated to do so.

Here’s more from around the Central division:

• With his restricted free agency approaching, Bulls swingman David Nwaba has hired new representation, signing with agent Charles Briscoe, according to Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). Charania previously identified Nwaba as an under-the-radar RFA target who should generate plenty of interest this summer.
• When word of Jimmy Butler‘s trade broke last June, Butler’s trainer Travelle Gaines made some pointed comments about the Bulls and GM Gar Forman in a now-deleted tweet. However, as he tells Vincent Goodwill of NBC Sports Chicago, Gaines doesn’t “feel the Bulls are a bad organization or franchise” and wouldn’t steer current clients like Trae Young away from Chicago.
• As Thaddeus Young considers opting out of his contract, ESPN’s Bobby Marks notes (via Twitter) that the Pacers could easily carve out about $23MM in cap space if Young walks. Meanwhile, J. Michael and Scott Horner of The Indianapolis Star identify some free agents the Pacers could go after with that space.