The Detroit Pistons had a lack of veteran leadership last season and it showed on the floor. The team took steps to address that shortcoming this summer.
The Detroit Pistons were a young team in need of a veteran voice in the locker room last season. Aron Baynes was a silent leader, as was Beno Udrih. Marcus Morris gets credit for his leadership qualities, but one of his main claims to fame was an ill-fated players-only meeting.
The young Pistons needed the presence of somebody who had been through the wars of a long NBA season and could help right the ship when things went south. They had no such presence and it showed as they fell apart down the stretch late last season.
This offseason the Pistons emphasized veteran leadership in acquiring Avery Bradley, Anthony Tolliver and Langston Galloway.
With a new group of players, the leadership structure of this team may take some time to shake out. Stan Van Gundy spoke about leadership on the Pistons roster on Monday at media day.
“Just like all of us, you have to decide who to follow. They’re going to have to be around each other for a while before they decide who to follow. I’m going to encourage them all to take some leadership and it’s going to be a collective thing and we’ll see what comes of that. I do think as time goes on there will be two, three, four guys emerge and we’ll certainly encourage that.”
Van Gundy recounted a conversation between his assistant coach Brendan Malone and Jameer Nelson when he first arrived in Orlando.
“First of all, it’s going to have to be, especially early on, a collective thing in terms of leadership because we’ve got a lot of new guys. And you can’t, as a coach, ever decide who the leader is. I remember when we first got to Orlando, Brendan Malone who was on my staff at the time, asked Jameer Nelson who the leader of the team was. Jameer said, ‘I’m the captain.’ Brendan said, ‘That’s not what I asked.’ I can decide who’s the captain if I want. The leader, they decide.”
Van Gundy indicated that returning Pistons have been taking leadership roles this summer, including Reggie Jackson, Tobias Harris and Ish Smith.
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“I think we’ve had some guys actually try to take on bigger roles over the summer. Reggie Jackson has really tried to engage his guys over the summer. Tobias Harris has and Ish Smith has.”