The Pistons relieved themsleves of Larry Brown a few years ago, and now they appear to be doing the same thing with Flip Saunders, who was released today by the Detroit Pistons.

“There are 25, 26 teams that would love to be where we are, but good has not been good enough,” Dumars said. “I appreciate everything that Rick Carlisle, Larry Brown and Flip Saunders have done, but I also know they were handed some great teams.

“It’s not like they had to take bad teams and make them good. The next coach is going to inherit a good team.”

To be fair, Flip had a good team. To be more fair, Doc Rivers had a better team. Franchises are quick to release a coach after a tough playoff exodus, but at the end of the day, KG, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen are better than Chauncey Billups, Rip Hamilton and Rasheed Wallace.

Rumors are that Avery Johnson is their first choice to replace Saunders, and if they’re looking for a coach who can take talent and win it all, well, Avery may not be the best selection. And that’s coming from someone who likes Mr. Johnson.