No more rips of coach; John Kuester, Richard Hamilton make up

Auburn Hills, MI, United States (AHN Sports) – After two months of being under public eye, the rift between Pistons coach John Kuester and Rip Hamilton has reportedly been addressed after the two met privately.

According to the Detroit Free Press Monday, Kuester and the disgruntled Hamilton met but neither would elaborate when the meeting took place. Both indicated that it was a positive experience.

“We met and we had a good conversation,” Kuester said via the Free Press. “The conversation went very well. He worked today and he did a good job. He just said, ‘Q, pass me the ball’. And I said, ‘OK.’ My passes were pretty good.”

According to reports, tension escalated between Kuester and Hamilton, who is the team captain, when the two got into a verbal tussle during a January practice.

Hamilton, who was part of the Pistons 2004 champion team, has only played once since Jan. 10 and has been benched for the latter part of January.

The three-time All-Star guard is currently dealing with a groin problem.

“It was a minute ago,” Hamilton told the Detroit Free Press of the meeting with Kuester. “It happened, and it was a minute ago. It happened awhile ago. It was a great conversation.”

In the same report, Hamilton dismissed the reported “protest” directed against Kuester as “crazy.”

“We were all laughing at the situation as it was being reported,” Hamilton told the Free Press. “It was just a situation where guys didn’t make it to practice, and the first thing people said was there was a protest. I heard about it, and people were calling me.”

Hamilton was one of several players who missed at a shootaround before Friday’s game against Philadelphia. In that contest, Detroit fielded only those players present at the full shootaround.

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