Debate: Should Stan Van Gundy be fired after this season? (Ku Khahil’s take)

Many fans have been calling for Stan Van Gundy’s head after this year. Does Van Gundy deserve to be fired after this year? This is my take on the question in a debate with fellow PistonPowered writer, Brenden Welper.

Coming out of the All-Star break, the Detroit Pistons are on the outside looking in on the Playoffs, with a record of 28-29.

With a chance of missing the playoffs for the second consecutive year, fans and followers of the Pistons have raised the question.

Should Stan Van Gundy Be Fired After This Season?

There’s a lot that would have to go wrong to have Van Gundy be fired after this season in my opinion.

I don’t believe he will or, quite honestly, he deserves to be fired.

Let me explain.

For one, Van Gundy has done a great job making trades. Van Gundy has consistently won trades, and has gotten a lot of value for nothing.

Van Gundy flipped Tony Mitchell, who according to Vince Ellis was about to be released due to maturity reasons, for fan favorite Anthony Tolliver in 2014.

Tolliver has been very important for the Pistons, and has been a solid leader/veteran for this team. After leaving last offseason, he returned to the Pistons this off season and has averaged 12.6 points per game, on 48 percent shooting from the field over the last 10 games.

Reggie Jackson was acquired at the 2015 trade deadline for DJ Augustin, Kyle Singler, and two second round picks.

Singler’s career is all but over with the Thunder, and Augustin has continued to bounce around the NBA. Meanwhile, Jackson has been the Pistons franchise point guard since arriving. Jackson has had injury issues the last two years, but there’s no doubt Van Gundy won this trade.

Van Gundy has also acquired Marcus Morris and Reggie Bullock from the Suns for a second round pick.

Tobias Harris was acquired for Brandon Jennings and Ersan Ilyasova. Jennings was coming off an Achilles tear, and with Jackson in place as the starter, was no longer needed.

Van Gundy then turned Morris into Avery Bradley.

Avery Bradley, along with Harris and a first round pick was flipped for superstar Blake Griffin, Willie Reed, and Brice Johnson.

Johnson and Reed were then flipped for Jameer Nelson and James Ennis.

After that long review, my point is Van Gundy has consistently won trades for the Pistons and has completely remade the roster through trades. Van Gundy knows Detroit isn’t going to be a high destination spot for free agents, and has done a tremendous job building a team without it.

After the Pistons were swept, in the most competitive sweep I’ve ever seen, by the Cleveland Cavaliers they seemed to be trending up.

However, Van Gundy has been on the side of bad luck since then.

The Pistons had a very disappointing season last year, and could miss the playoffs this year. But, this is not on Van Gundy, in my opinion.

What has been the one constant to the Pistons struggling?

Reggie Jackson being injured.

Jackson being hurt last year completely ruined the Pistons season. They had no proper replacement for him, and when he came back he was not even close to 100 percent.

Then we come into this year, where The Pistons looked really, really good until late December. They were 19-14, with wins over the Oklahoma City Thunder, Golden State Warriors, Minnesota Timberwolves, and the Boston Celtics, Since then, it has been a struggle for this team, with their lowest point being a nine game losing streak.

Why was that?

Oh, Jackson sprained his ankle and has been out since.

This team has looked really good when the pieces are healthy. These pieces were all gotten in trades by Van Gundy. There should seriously have a warrant out for Van Gundy arrest for theft.

Van Gundy, at the least, deserves one more season. After seeing Jackson tear down two straight seasons because of injury, I suspect Van Gundy to make a harsh decision this summer concerning the point guard position.

You can blame Van Gundy for not having the proper replacement for Jackson, which is fair. However, you’d have to also acknowledge that when Jackson is healthy Van Gundy has looked really well.

I believe this wouldn’t even be a discussion if Jackson didn’t go down with an injury again this year. Because of that, Van Gundy deserves at least one more season.

I’ll entertain firing Van Gundy if the Pistons go another year without doing something to the point guard position.

But, now? Nah, he deserves a pass because of Jackson’s injury.

Make sure to check out Brenden Welper’s piece as well (link). Make sure to comment below as to who you agree with more.