Detroit Pistons Announce Basketball Operations Staff Restructing

Detroit Pistons Head Coach and President of Basketball Operations Stan Van Gundy announced today promotions and restructuring within the basketball operations staff.

Pat Garrity has been promoted to assistant general manager, Andrew Loomis to chief of staff and Bob Beyer to associate head coach. Otis Smith joins the Pistons’ staff as director of player development/assistant coach while assistant coach Brendan Malone will transition to a special assignment scout, residing in New York. Quentin Richardson is leaving the organization for personal reasons.

“I’m proud to announce the restructuring of our basketball staff knowing that we have great people expanding their roles while maintaining continuity within our department,” said Van Gundy. “Pat, Andrew and Bob are well deserving of new responsibilities and we welcome Otis to Detroit on a full-time basis. Brendan is moving away from the bench and returning to his New York roots, but will continue to provide great basketball counsel and insight that has made him a great basketball mind for decades. We thank Quentin for his hard work over the last two seasons and respect his desire to spend more time with his family in Orlando.”

Garrity, formerly director of strategic planning, joined the Pistons in 2014 following a 10-year NBA playing career and three-plus working as a client advisor for a Connecticut-based hedge fund. Drafted 19th overall in the 1998 NBA Draft by the Milwaukee Bucks, Garrity was sent to the Phoenix Suns in a draft-day trade. After one season with the Suns, he was traded to the Magic where he played from 1999-2008. He played for Van Gundy in 2007-08 and posted career averages of 7.3 points, 2.6 rebounds and 0.8 assists in 552 NBA games.

A four-year player at the University of Notre Dame, Garrity averaged 18.8 points, 7.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 111 games for the Fighting Irish. He graduated with a BS in Science, Pre-Professional Studies from Notre Dame and, following his retirement from the NBA in 2008, earned an MBA with a concentration in Investment Finance from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business.

Loomis served the last two seasons as executive director of basketball operations for the Pistons. Previously, he spent three-and-a-half seasons with the Golden State and Santa Cruz Warriors. Over the last two seasons, he’s helped in the management of the basketball operations of the Grand Rapids Drive – the NBA D-League affiliate of the Detroit Pistons. Prior to joining the Pistons, Loomis led the player development efforts for the Golden State Warriors while also serving as the assistant general manager of the Santa Cruz Warriors. He also spent eight seasons with the New Orleans Hornets in various capacities including; researching and compiling statistical information on prospective players, evaluating salary cap implications for potential trades and free agent signings, ensuring compliance with the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement and assisting with the implementation of player development initiatives and community relations activities.

Beyer recently completed his second season as an assistant coach with the Pistons after serving as an assistant coach with the Charlotte Bobcats during the 2013-14 season. A coaching veteran with over 30 years of experience at the NBA and collegiate levels, Beyer spent the 2012-13 season as an assistant coach with Golden State. Prior to that, he spent five seasons on Van Gundy’s staff with the Orlando Magic from 2007-12. Beyer’s NBA coaching career began with the Toronto Raptors, when he served as an assistant coach in 2003-04 and as the team’s advance scout in 2004-05. At the college level, he spent two seasons as an assistant coach at Texas Tech University under legendary Coach Bob Knight from 2001-03 and served as head coach at Siena College from 1994-97. His college coaching career also includes stints as an assistant coach at the University of Albany (1985-89), Siena (1989-93), the University of Wisconsin (1994-97), Northwestern University (1997-2000) and the University of Dayton (2005-07).

Smith joins the Pistons staff after serving as head coach of the Grand Rapids Drive for the last two seasons. A veteran of 25-plus years of basketball experience, Smith served as president of basketball operations/general manager of the Orlando Magic from 2010-12. He first joined the Magic as director of player development in 2003-04 and was promoted to assistant general manager in 2005-06 before being named general manager in May of 2006. Under Smith’s leadership Orlando made the playoffs six times, recorded a franchise-record four straight seasons with 50-plus wins (2007-11), won three Southeast Division Titles (2007-10) and reached the NBA Finals in 2009. During his time with the Magic, the team accumulated a record of 299-177 (.628).

Prior to his time with Orlando, Smith spent the 2002-03 season as executive director of basketball operations with the Golden State Warriors. He also served as director of community relations/Warriors foundation for Golden State from 1999-02 and as community relations manager with the Orlando Magic from 1996-98. As a player, Smith appeared in 375 career NBA regular-season games with Denver, Golden State and Orlando, averaging 10.5 points, 3.8 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.0 steals in 20.6 minutes.

Malone recently completed his second year of his second stint as an assistant coach with the Pistons. He previously served as an assistant coach in Detroit from 1988-95, including four seasons (1988-92) on Hall-of-Fame Coach Chuck Daly’s staff when he helped the Pistons win back-to-back NBA titles in 1989 and 1990. Malone has 30-plus years of NBA coaching experience. He was named the first ever head coach of the expansion Toronto Raptors in 1995 and served as an assistant coach on Van Gundy’s staff in Orlando from 2007-12.

A New York native, Malone’s NBA coaching career began with the New York Knicks as an assistant coach in 1986. He later had two more stints with the Knicks (1997-00 and 2003-04). He’s also served as an assistant coach with the Indiana Pacers (2000-03) and Cleveland Cavaliers (2004-05), where he took over as head coach for the final 18 games of that season. Collegiately, Malone worked as an assistant coach at Fordham (1976-77), Yale (1977-78) and Syracuse (1978-84) before becoming the head coach at the University of Rhode Island (1984-86).

Richardson joined the Pistons in 2014 as director of player development following a 13-year NBA playing career.
Drafted 18th overall in the 2000 NBA Draft by the Los Angeles Clippers, Richardson appeared in 783 career games and averaged 10.3 points, 4.7 rebounds and 1.5 assists with the Clippers, Suns, Knicks, Heat and Magic.