Tom Gores decision to hire Stan Van Gundy as President of Basketball Operations and Head Coach of the Detroit Pistons has turned out to be a success so far. Gores shares his thoughts on the organization and what Van Gundy has done for the franchise.
The Detroit Pistons were in a pathetic state at the end of the Joe Dumars era with a slew of coaches and mediocre performances from season to season.
The Pistons had many questions they needed answered both short and long-term, with no one capable of solving them.
But that all changed when owner Tom Gores swung for the fences and hired Stan Van Gundy to lead the Pistons’ franchise on the court and behind closed doors as the Head Coach and President of Basketball Operations.
In just two seasons, Van Gundy has been able to bring the Pistons out of mediocrity and lead them to the playoffs behind some excellent roster decisions. What’s more important, is Van Gundy was able to accomplish this feat and bring stability long-term.
"“I think throughout the league are disconnects between the floor and the front office, but not everybody can do what Stan can do,” he said. “Coach and then think big picture, high level and what’s good for the franchise long term. I thought that was a way to accelerate our progress and I had seen enough in terms of how that can be disconnected. Hopefully, it has, and we’re in the playoffs now.”“It’s nice to get it off the list,” he said. “It’s an important milestone for the organization and it’s a really important first step. Really proud of the players this year. There is a sense of relief, honestly, that we’ve got our community in the playoffs. The last few years, it’s been hard to disappoint the fans. That’s been probably the hardest thing of being an owner. But it’s pretty exciting and I think we’re just beginning. It’s just a beginning for what I hope is sustained success.”“When we talked the first time, we said we wanted to win but never sacrifice the future and we didn’t know how that was going to play out. Stan deserves a lot of credit. He came in, really quickly changed the culture. We worked together setting up the organization. When I met with Stan those couple years ago, what he had to say really impressed me. But more importantly now, he just delivers. He’s hard working, dedicated and I think he’s a great role model for our players in terms of preparation.”“I know we took a risk in terms of the front-office side with Stan,” Gores said. “But he really knows basketball. He knows how to assess risk. I’m very proud of him.“I expected Stan to do it over a certain period of time. I texted Stan the other day. I said, ‘You made me look smart.’ But he’s really doing all the hard work. But I’m not surprised. I knew up-front with him, he was going to lead this process. I’m impressed with all of us now, our fans included, our community. Very excited for the community. That’s probably the biggest thing. You don’t want to disappoint our fans and community. Also, in the community, when we win we can do more things.”"
It’s still early, but it looks like hiring Van Gundy–and giving him all the power–was the right move.
It shouldn’t be hard to go from bad to good–after so many years in the lottery, it’s not too hard to be a competitive playoff team with high first round picks–but it is hard going from mediocre to good.
What’s most impressive about Van Gundy was his ability to take a mediocre team without a first round draft pick in his first season, and only the eighth overall pick in his second season, and turn the roster completely around.
Van Gundy now has a young nucleus of players that are all 26-years-old or under, and under contract (assuming Andre Drummond signs a max this summer) that can grow together.
Now Van gundy has an even bigger challenge–to go from good to great.