Michael Edward Curry (born August 22, 1968) is an American professional basketball coach and former player. He was most recently an assistant coach for the Vanderbilt Commodores. Curry played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1993 to 2005. He later served as head coach of the Detroit Pistons.
College career
A 6'5" guard/forward from Glenn Hills High School in Augusta, Georgia, Curry played four seasons at Georgia Southern University. With the Eagles, he averaged 9.4 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 1.8 assists over his four year collegiate career.
The Eagles performed well during Curry’s tenure with the team, winning the Trans America Athletic Conference (TAAC) tournament championship and qualifying for the 1987 NCAA tournament in Curry’s freshman year at Georgia Southern.
Curry’s best season with the Eagles came in his senior year when he averaged 16.6 points per game and was named to the 1989-90 All-TAAC team.
Professional career
Curry played eleven seasons (1993–1994 through 2004–2005) in the National Basketball Association as a member of the Philadelphia 76ers, the Washington Bullets, the Detroit Pistons, the Milwaukee Bucks, the Toronto Raptors and the Indiana Pacers. Though he never averaged more than 6.6 points per game in a season, Curry was well respected throughout the league for his strong defense and leadership qualities, and for several years he served as president of the NBA Players Association.[1]
In 1992, Curry was a guard/forward for the Long Island Surf of the United States Basketball League (USBL), averaging 20 points per game. As of November 2000, he was one of 128 USBL players who had graduated to the NBA.[2]
Internationally, Curry played in the German 1st basketball league for Steiner Bayreuth (1990–1991), in Italy for Clear Cantù (1994)[3] and in the Spanish ACB for Valvi Girona (1994–1995).[4]
NBA career statistics
| GP | Games played | GS | Games started | MPG | Minutes per game |
| FG% | Field goal percentage | 3P% | 3-point field goal percentage | FT% | Free throw percentage |
| RPG | Rebounds per game | APG | Assists per game | SPG | Steals per game |
| BPG | Blocks per game | PPG | Points per game | Bold | Career high |
| * | Led the league |
Regular season
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1993–94 | Philadelphia | 10 | 0 | 4.3 | .214 | .000 | .750 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.9 |
| 1995–96 | Washington | 5 | 0 | 6.8 | .300 | .000 | 1.000 | 1.0 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 2.0 |
| 1995–96 | Detroit | 41 | 1 | 18.3 | .464 | .400 | .707 | 2.0 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.0 | 4.9 |
| 1996–97 | Detroit | 81 | 2 | 15.0 | .448 | .299 | .898 | 1.5 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 3.9 |
| 1997–98 | Milwaukee | 82* | 27 | 24.1 | .469 | .444 | .835 | 1.2 | 1.7 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 6.6 |
| 1998–99 | Milwaukee | 50* | 4 | 22.9 | .437 | .067 | .797 | 2.2 | 1.6 | 0.8 | 0.1 | 4.9 |
| 1999–00 | Detroit | 82 | 3 | 19.6 | .480 | .200 | .839 | 1.3 | 1.1 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 6.2 |
| 2000–01 | Detroit | 68 | 58 | 21.8 | .455 | .444 | .849 | 1.8 | 1.9 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 5.2 |
| 2001–02 | Detroit | 82 | 75 | 23.3 | .453 | .269 | .791 | 2.0 | 1.5 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 4.0 |
| 2002–03 | Detroit | 78 | 77 | 19.9 | .402 | .296 | .800 | 1.6 | 1.3 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 3.0 |
| 2003–04 | Toronto | 70 | 15 | 17.6 | .388 | .200 | .845 | 1.2 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 2.9 |
| 2004–05 | Indiana | 18 | 7 | 13.8 | .448 | .000 | .500 | 1.5 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 1.7 |
| Career | 667 | 269 | 19.8 | .447 | .298 | .825 | 1.6 | 1.2 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 4.5 | |
Playoffs
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995–96 | Detroit | 3 | 0 | 14.3 | .429 | .000 | .000 | 1.0 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 2.0 |
| 1996–97 | Detroit | 2 | 0 | 3.5 | .500 | .000 | .000 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 |
| 1998–99 | Milwaukee | 3 | 0 | 19.7 | .583 | .000 | 1.000 | 1.3 | 1.0 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 6.7 |
| 1999–00 | Detroit | 3 | 1 | 26.3 | .522 | .000 | .667 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 9.3 |
| 2001–02 | Detroit | 10 | 10 | 22.1 | .564 | .385 | .727 | 1.4 | 1.2 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 5.7 |
| 2002–03 | Detroit | 15 | 14 | 18.3 | .364 | .333 | .857 | 1.1 | 1.1 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 2.7 |
| Career | 36 | 25 | 19.0 | .480 | .333 | .774 | 1.1 | 1.0 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 4.3 | |
Coaching career
On June 10, 2008 Curry was named as the head coach of the Detroit Pistons for the 2008–09 season, succeeding Flip Saunders. He received a three-year deal, worth $2.5 million per season.[5] On June 30, 2009, Curry was fired as head coach.[6] Prior to becoming head coach of the Pistons, Curry served as an assistant coach for Detroit and also as the NBA's Vice-President of Player Development.[7]
Curry later worked as the associate head coach for the Philadelphia 76ers.[8]
On April 7, 2014, Curry accepted a job at Florida Atlantic University, replacing Mike Jarvis. In four seasons, the Owls were 39–84 under Curry, who was fired from FAU on March 16, 2018 and replaced by Dusty May.[9]
Head coaching record
NBA
| Regular season | G | Games coached | W | Games won | L | Games lost | W–L % | Win–loss % |
| Playoffs | PG | Playoff games | PW | Playoff wins | PL | Playoff losses | PW–L % | Playoff win–loss % |
| Team | Year | G | W | L | W–L% | Finish | PG | PW | PL | PW–L% | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Detroit | 2008–09 | 82 | 39 | 43 | .476 | 3rd in Central | 4 | 0 | 4 | .000 | Lost in First round |
| Career | 82 | 39 | 43 | .476 | 4 | 0 | 4 | .000 | |||
College
| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Florida Atlantic Owls (Conference USA) (2014–2018) | |||||||||
| 2014–15 | Florida Atlantic | 9–20 | 2–16 | 14th | |||||
| 2015–16 | Florida Atlantic | 8–25 | 5–13 | T–12th | |||||
| 2016–17 | Florida Atlantic | 10–20 | 6–12 | T–11th | |||||
| 2017–18 | Florida Atlantic | 12–19 | 6–12 | T–11th | |||||
| Florida Atlantic: | 39–84 (.317) | 19–53 (.264) | |||||||
| Total: | 39–84 (.317) | ||||||||
|
National champion
Postseason invitational champion
| |||||||||
Personal life
His son, Deon Curry, played football as a wide receiver for Michigan State University.[10] He is not related to Dell and Steph Curry.
References
- ^ ESPN.com – NBA – PLAYOFFS2003 – Detroit Pistons vs. Orlando Magic
- ^ Copia, Joe (November 13, 2000). "Three New USBL Alumni to Appear on NBA Opening Night Rosters; 128 Players Have Graduated From the USBL to the NBA". Silicon Investor. San Francisco, CA. Retrieved April 25, 2017.
- ^ Michael Curry
- ^ "ACB". Archived from the original on 2011-05-25. Retrieved 2008-09-27.
- ^ C. Gerstner, Joanne (2008-06-10). "Curry: We're playing to put up another banner". The Detroit News. Retrieved 2008-06-10.
- ^ Stein, Marc (2009-07-01). "Pistons fire Curry". ESPN. Retrieved 2016-01-16.
- ^ InsideHoops.com – Michael Curry named NBA Vice President, Basketball Operations
- ^ "Michael Curry". nba.com. National Basketball Association. Retrieved 2016-01-16.
- ^ "FAUSPORTS.COM Athletics to Seek a New Head Mens Basketball Coach :: Florida Atlantic University Official Athletic Site Florida Atlantic University Official Athletic Site - Men's Basketball". Archived from the original on 2018-03-17. Retrieved 2018-03-16.
- ^ Michigan State University Official Athletic Siteyyy