Eric Musselman details what he learned from Chuck Daly

Before he was an NBA head coach or the very successful program-leader for Arkansas hoops, Eric Musselman sat next to legendary former Pistons coach Chuck Daly on the Orlando Magic bench in the late 1990s as part of his staff — an experience rich in learning how to prepare a basketball team for the end of the season, when the important games take place.

At a recent summer press conference, Musselman was asked about his time under Daly and said that he gleaned how take the bigger picture approach when it comes to handling a roster throughout the year.

“I would say the one thing with Coach Daly is — you got to try to win the game that night, but you really gotta put the the the lens on: how are we best for an NBA team? How are they best come playoff time? And for us, it’s…how are we best, you know, come March?”

To groom the best version of his team, Muss says he takes a page out of Daly’s book and will let certain players play through their worst moments in the hopes that the faith kept in them will give the player confidence as the season goes on, whether he struggles or not.

“And so, you have to make decisions during the regular season. Sometimes it might be, hey, you know, this particular player is struggling. I need him to get out of the struggles. It might affect the outcome for a game in January, but I know that this particular player, we need him to have confidence in March or we cannot advance.”

Of course, playing someone while they’re struggling can be tough on the team both from a performance and chemistry standpoint. But that’s the price of setting your squad up for success come postseason time in the basketball world, according to Eric Musselman.

“So those are some of the the the end-time decision making that you have to make and I’ve never been around anybody better than Coach Daly that could make a decision in the regular season and he was making that decision thinking about how it would affect the team come playoff time.”

Just take this past season for example. Arkansas had a pretty lousy SEC regular season but went wild once they got into the NCAA Tournament and were able to knock out reigning champs and No. 1 seed Kansas in round two. 

Sure, the Hogs took their lumps in SEC play, as they typically have in January under Musselman, but they came out better for it on the other side and had success in March despite a lower seed than maybe they could have had.