Wattrick also believed Lloyd was the man for the job. But one detail got in the way. “The quote that he had for Earl Lloyd was that ‘If you were a white guy, you’d solve all my problems,’” says former Pistons forward Ray Scott. Wattrick simply did not have the stomach to be the GM who hired the NBA’s first Black head coach. He had no hesitation, however, about becoming the GM who hired the youngest head coach in the history of U.S. professional sports when he awarded the job to DeBusschere. “I think almost all the players were shocked, because you just never heard of a 24-year-old coach,” Thorn says. “I think even he was surprised by it, when he was offered the job.”