Daly dosage

Cavaliers flagship radio station WTAM-AM 1100 in Cleveland reported Tuesday that Chuck Daly might be in negotiations to become the next head coach of the team.
It's a predictable move since Daly is viewed by some in Detroit as a saint. Cavs owner Dan Gilbert is a Detroit-area resident and a die-hard Pistons fan (except when they are playing the Cavs, we'd hope).
Daly has the credentials. Two NBA titles heading the Pistons in 1989 and 1990. An Olympic gold medal as the coach of the first "Dream Team" in 1992. Unlike fellow basketball guru Phil Jackson, Daly isn't viewed as an eccentric. He helped put together a tough, workmanlike team in Detroit that embodied the blue-collar ethic held as high standard in the Great Lakes region.
If you needed more proof, Dennis Rodman didn't flake out until he left the Pistons.
Daly has a small local connection, previously coaching the Cavaliers for a forgettable 72-game stretch in 1981-82, where he first encountered a center named Bill Laimbeer, who has also been named in assorted Cavs-related rumors.
The Cavs have changed a lot since that young, spry Daly led his team onto the floor. For one, they now have a superstar who headed into the off-season with his head hung low, not feeling great about the direction of this hometown team he was supposed to save.
(That's LeBron James, on the off chance you didn't know).
They are a team trying to rebuild on the fly, needing a new coach and general manager and a lot of new players. To boot, they won't have a pick in next month's college draft unless they make a trade.
A lot is at stake, but by his mere presence, Daly would be a tremendous upgrade in the coach's chair, probably the best coach the Cavs have had since Lenny Wilkens.
There is one major hang-up, though: his age. Daly will turn 75 before the start of next season. Can he bring the leadership and energy needed to point this team in the right direction and keep them on course? Will he develop hindering health problems? He hasn't experienced the stress of coaching in the NBA since 1999 with Orlando.
Daly sure as heck wouldn't be a long-term solution. He'd be more of a tug boat, towing this team toward contention, setting them up for a successor.
To that end, Daly could pick from a small army of younger coaches who would love to be his protege. Someone like Eric Musselman, a former Gold State Warriors coach who might not intern for, say, Jeff Van Gundy, might be willing to learn at the feet of Daly for a couple of years, preparing himself to take over once Daly retires for good.
It's all about setting up a template, a system, not just getting one or two guys who can help a team win. Whoever is named the coach and general manager of the Cavs must put a successful system in place that future team leaders can follow. That's how the Cavs can stay in contention for a decade or more.