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The Detroit Pistons are planning further discussions with three candidates for the franchise's head-coaching job -- former Toronto Raptors coach Dwane Casey, University of Michigan coach John Beilein and San Antonio Spurs assistant Ime Udoka, league sources told ESPN. The Pistons are planning to advance the three candidates to meet with owner Tom Gores, sources said. All three coaches met with Detroit's front office recently. Casey and Beilein are coaches with tremendous pedigrees and professional options, and neither has fully committed himself in pursuit of the Pistons opening, league sources said. Beilein has turned down NBA overtures in the past, and college coaches can stay only so long in process that is playing out in the public eye. Casey is owed $6.5 million for the final year of his contract in Toronto, where he was fired after a franchise-record 59-win regular season and a second-round playoff sweep to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Casey is expected to be in great demand in the next round of league head-coaching openings. Udoka made strong impressions in interviews in Toronto and Orlando, and it appears to be an inevitability that he will become an NBA head coach within the next few years. Pistons senior advisor Ed Stefanski is running the search, which is expected to decide on a head coach before Detroit hires a general manager. Stefanski is the senior basketball decision-maker for the organization, since coming from Memphis' front office in May.
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