Detroit Pistons Finalize Coaching Staff
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. – Detroit Pistons President of Basketball Operations Joe Dumars announced today that the club has named Henry Bibby and Maz Trakh as assistant coaches joining John Loyer, who's been on Detroit's coaching staff the last two seasons. Additionally, Rasheed Wallace and Bernard Smith have been named player development coaches, Kamran Sufi has been hired as advance scout and Raman Sposato as video coordinator. Per team policy, terms of the contracts were not disclosed.
Bibby enters his first season with Detroit after spending the last five seasons on the Memphis Grizzlies coaching staff. During his stint in Memphis, Bibby helped coach the Grizzlies to the playoffs for three consecutive years (2011-13). Prior to joining the Grizzlies, Bibby served two-plus seasons (2005-08) as an assistant coach for the Philadelphia 76ers under Maurice Cheeks. He served as the head coach of the men's basketball team at the University of Southern California, where he was named the 2002 National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) District 15 Co-Coach of the Year, along with Paul Westphal, and was a finalist for the 2002 Naismith Coach of the Year Award. He also had coaching stints in the CBA, IBA, WNBA, USBL and in overseas leagues. Bibby averaged 8.6 points, 2.3 rebounds and 3.4 assists in 675 career games over nine NBA seasons (1972-81). He won an NBA championship with the Knicks as a rookie in 1973. Collegiately, he played three seasons (1969-72) at UCLA where, under head coach John Wooden, he was the starting point guard on three NCAA title teams, earning consensus All-American honors as a senior while serving as the team's captain.
Trakh joins Detroit after serving the last three seasons as an assistant coach with the Oklahoma City Thunder. Prior to Oklahoma City, he spent five years in Asia as a head coach in the Jordan Basketball League. In 2005, he led Jordan Fastlink to the FIBA Asia Club Championship, marking the first time a Jordanian team won the Asia Club Championship. Trakh has also coached in the Continental Basketball Association (CBA), American Basketball Association (ABA) and the collegiate level with Cabrillo College, UC Irvine, Riverside Community College and Long Beach State. Prior to his coaching career, Trakh played collegiately at Southern Utah University.
Wallace begins his first year as a player development coach after a 16-year NBA playing career. He returns to the Pistons where he played five-plus seasons (2004-09) and helped the team to the 2004 NBA Championship. Wallace averaged 14.4 points, 6.7 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.3 blocks and 1.0 steals in 1,109 career games with Washington, Portland, Atlanta, Detroit, Boston and New York. He was acquired by the Pistons from the Hawks on February 19, 2004 and was a key member of the Pistons' team that made back-to-back NBA Finals appearances in 2004 and 2005.
Smith enters his first season as a player development coach with the Pistons. He previously worked under Cheeks in both Portland and Philadelphia. He served as video coordinator for the Trail Blazers for two seasons (2002-04) and was promoted to assistant coach prior to the start of the 2004-05 season.
Sufi has spent the last three seasons working in the Chinese Basketball Association and served as an assistant coach with the Anaheim Arsenal of the NBA Development League from 2007-09. He played professional basketball in the ABA and overseas.
Sposato joins Detroit after spending the last eight seasons working for the L.A. Clippers organization where he started as a video coordinator in 2005. Prior to the Clippers, he spent 2003-05 as the video coordinator of the Portland Trail Blazers on Cheeks' staff.
