It has been a symbolic gesture on the part of the NBA Coaches Association throughout the

playoffs to honor former iconic Detroit Pistons coach Chuck Daly, who was diagnosed with

pancreatic cancer in February and died Saturday morning.

For all that Daly did for the Detroit Pistons, his true legacy can be seen in how he changed the

game for future NBA coaches.

"You hear players all the time say that Oscar Robertson, Wilt Chamberlain, Michael Jordan,

(Julius Erving) or Larry Bird kind of paved the way for the current NBA players to make the type

of money they make or live the lifestyle they live and be known as the best players in the world

of Basketball," said Cleveland coach Mike Brown, who was named the league's Coach of the

Year this season. "Chuck Daly has done the same thing for guys like myself and (Miami Heat

coach) Eric Spoelstra and (New Jersey Nets coach) Lawrence Frank. He's paved the way."

He did it by not just winning but winning while looking good.

The NBA was full of fashion-challenged coaches until Daly came along.

Few coaches ever looked as equally adept on the bench or on a fashion runway as Daly, whose

tailored suits would eventually become the standard all NBA coaches seem to abide by now.

He made no secret about wanting to look his best when roaming the sidelines.

But make no mistake about it: As much as Daly wanted to look good, he understood there were

no style points for losing games.

Known for his stylish attire dating back to his days as a college coach, he molded the Pistons

into a physically punishing, grind-it-out crew of talented maulers - a stark contrast to a man who

never seemed to have an out-of-place hair on his head.

"I never understood how a great man, a nice guy, coached the Bad Boys," Charles Barkley said.

Barkley was a part of the 1992 U.S. Olympic Dream Team - arguably the greatest Olympic team

ever - that was coached by Daly.

Leading that team to an gold medal spoke volumes about Daly's ability to mesh various

personalities and egos together to achieve one common goal.

"In the '92 Olympics, he handled that team and its talent as well as anybody could," said former

Celtics star Larry Bird, a member of that team who is now the general manager of the Indiana

Pacers. "He treated us all with respect and had us all vying for the same goal. For me, it was an

honor to play for him."

Los Angeles Lakers coach Phil Jackson has many fond memories of Daly, but his work with the

1992 Olympic team sticks out.

"Probably coaching the Dream Team is going to be what people remember him by," Jackson

said. "But he's a great friend of the coaches and a very big supporter of the coaching fraternity

that we have in the NBA ."

You talk to other NBA coaches, and they'll echo similar sentiments about Daly, but even as one

of the winningest coaches of his generation, Daly was never honored as the league's Coach of

the Year.

That's OK, because Daly's greatness could never be summed up into one great game or season.

While many of his fellow coaches understand this, they made it official shortly before the

playoffs started when they announced the establishment of the Chuck Daly Lifetime

Achievement Award, which will be given to a current or former coach who has made "a special

contribution to the sport and whose work has had a positive impact on the NBA coaching

profession."

So even when the playoffs are over and those lapel pins disappear, Daly won't be forgotten.

Every year, he'll be remembered.

Further still, Daly's impact on the game can be seen every time you watch an NBA team led by

a dapper-dressed coach who has found a way to get his players to put aside all their differences

and come together and achieve one goal that's bigger than themselves.

- A. Sherrod Blakely covers the Pistons for the Citizen Patriot News Service.