DETROIT -- Chuck Daly, who coached the original Dream Team to the Olympic gold medal in 1992 after winning back-to-back NBA championships with the
Detroit Pistons, has died. He was 78.
He died Saturday morning in Jupiter, Fla., with his family by his side, the team said.The Pistons announced in March that the Hall of Fame coach had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and was undergoing treatment.
He was renowned for his ability to create harmony out of diverse personalities at all levels of the game, whether they were Ivy Leaguers at Pennsylvania, Dream Teamers
Michael Jordan and
Charles Barkley, or Pistons as dissimilar as
Dennis Rodman and
Joe Dumars.
"It's a players' league. They allow you to coach them or they don't," Daly once said. "Once they stop allowing you to coach........
