Stan Van Gundy told executives and agents he wanted a season with Josh Smith, Greg Monroe and Drummond together
By Dan Feldman
"For so long over the summer, Stan Van Gundy salivated over three promising talents in the Detroit Pistons’ frontcourt, so misfit together yet so individually gifted apart, and told executives and agents: Give me this chance to make them right, a season to prove I’ll execute and complement their offensive and defensive skills. Andre Drummond. Josh Smith. Greg Monroe. Just give me the opportunity of a year, and this Pistons’ franchise will survive the consequences, Van Gundy felt."
"Several NBA teams had pitched sign-and-trades scenarios to the Pistons’ front office, but Van Gundy responded with a turn-off: The president and coach requested All-Star caliber players in return, league sources told RealGM. In one instance, two other franchises had agreed to a three-team deal that needed the Pistons’ acceptance, delivering Monroe a maximum-level contract. Opposing team executives involved pushed for it. Only, Detroit rejected."
If Van Gundy wasn’t buffing – and it appears he wasn’t, considering all three players are back – this was his first big mistake as an executive.
The Pistons reportedly had on-again, off-again trade discussions with the Kings about Josh Smith. There were also definitely teams interested in sign-and-trading for Monroe. But whether Detroit got any reasonable offers, I can’t say. Just because two other teams agreed to a three-team trade doesn’t mean it was in the Pistons’ best interest.
However, I hope Van Gundy went into negotiations with something between an open mind a desire to break up the big three.
Smith, Monroe and Drummond can’t play together – not for long stretches. Their skill sets just don’t complement each other, and that won’t change. Under Van Gundy’s watch, the Pistons have performed dramatically better with all three on the court, going from getting outscored by 8.0 points per 100 possessions to getting outscored by 1.7 points per 100 possessions. All the gains have been made defensively, and Van Gundy deserves credit for raising the Pistons’ competency on that end of the floor.
Perhaps, Van Gundy’s plan was to rotate their minutes. He’s done that more lately, but the team still stinks. It’s difficult to establish rhythm like that, even if it’s the optimal strategy for the roster.
Look, I would rather ridden out Smith’s contract than attach positive assets to dump him. I would have let Monroe threaten to accept the qualifying offer – unprecedented for a player of his caliber – without believing he’d do it.
It’s possible the Pistons got into this predicament by taking the exact approach I would have.
But if Van Gundy thought his coaching could magically transform Smith, Monroe and Drummond into a winning long-term core, and that’s how we got here, that was a mistake. It’s too late now, but I really hope Van Gundy didn’t turn down any favorable deals to keep this trio in tact. It’s hard to watch them now, and it’d be a real punch in the gut if a better alternative presented itself last summer.
Van Gundy told Smith the forward would likely begin the season in Detroit, but it hasn’t gone so well. It might be too late to trade Smith without sending a sweetener, though I’d still try.
It’s not too late to trade Monroe, and the Pistons should be seriously exploring deals in advance of Monday, when the window for trading him opens.
There’s nothing wrong with, in the absence of better options, keeping the big three together. There’s something seriously wrong with keeping them together because you want to give them more time together.