ATHENS, Ga. (AP) — Former Detroit Pistons and Florida Atlantic coach Michael Curry has joined Georgia coach Tom Crean's staff.
Crean on Wednesday named Curry, who played in the NBA for 11 seasons, as the Bulldogs' player development assistant. Crean also added Tim Dather as director of basketball strategy.
Curry, 52, was 39-43 as the Pistons coach in 2008-09. He was 39-84 at Florida Atlantic from 2014-18. Curry also held executive positions with the NBA Players Association and the NBA.
“Michael Curry is one of the most universally respected people in basketball,” Crean said. “He’s got the experiences of nothing ever being handed to him and having to earn everything and has had much success through pure hard work, grit, personality and being a great teammate. I want our players surrounded by those qualities.”
Curry said he met Crean when the coach worked at Marquette and he played for the Milwaukee Bucks.
“I’m excited to be back and around the game,” Curry said. "I’ve always felt like I had a great defensive mind with the game. I wanted to continue to expand my offensive thought process and always have liked how coach Crean’s teams played with pace. To have a chance to keep learning from that and be on the Power-5 level here at Georgia is perfect.”
Curry played with the Indiana Pacers, Toronto Raptors, Detroit Pistons, Milwaukee, Washington Bullets, Philadelphia 76ers and Sacramento Kings.
Curry and Dather fill an opening on Georgia's staff left when Dice Yoshimoto accepted a position with the New York Knicks.
___
For more AP college basketball coverage: https://apnews.com/Collegebasketball and http://twitter.com/AP_Top25
