Open thread: There’s a lot of questions with the Detroit Pistons

The off-season continues to move fairly quickly and there’s still a lot the Detroit Pistons haven’t done yet. Are you happy with their current state?

The Detroit Pistons season ended on April 11 as they beat the Chicago Bulls 119-87 at the United Center. They finished 39-43 during the regular season and were out of the playoff picture for the second straight year.

It’s almost been two months since the team was playing actual basketball together. It’s been a month since they fired Stan Van Gundy. The Pistons have been without a general manager for a week now as well.

There’s an overriding question that a lot of fans want an answer to and it’s very simple. What’s the plan here? So far, there’s been no sense of one.

Detroit Pistons continue head coaching, general manager search

After the season, Tom Gores wanted to meet with Stan Van Gundy about the future of the team. After almost a month of waiting for results, Gores fired Van Gundy due to not seeing eye to eye.

This is a decision that Gores and the front office of the team could’ve acted on much quicker. Generally, there’s a good sense of where a team is going with a head coach. All the signs seemed to point to Van Gundy on his way out.

The team had just one playoff appearance in four years under Van Gundy. On the other hand, he brought a star in his prime to Detroit and brought the franchise back to relevancy. This organization is in better shape than it has been in a long time.

Since Van Gundy’s firing, a number of candidates have been mentioned for the Pistons head coaching job. It seems as though they’ve narrowed it down to two candidates: Dwane Casey and Ime Udoka.

Casey and Udoka bring different ends of the spectrum on what a coach possesses. Casey has a ton of head coaching experience with some proven success. Udoka has never been a head coach in the NBA.

John Beilein recently pulled his hat out of the ring for the head coaching vacancy in Detroit.

The strange part is the organization is without a general manager as well. There seems to be more of a sense of urgency to get a head coach before a general manager. In most scenarios, it would go the other way.

Jeff Bower was relieved of his duties over a week ago. The Pistons are still without a President of basketball operations as well.

Rebuild or compete?

More from PistonPowered

Gores has mentioned that he wants to see his team compete. That could just be so he avoids getting fined like Mark Cuban for openly saying his team was tanking.

You can’t exactly invest in that statement. Ultimately, the current roster that the Detroit Pistons have is an above average one when all the pieces are together.

The biggest issue over the past two seasons has been the health of Reggie Jackson. When he plays, the team as a whole performs significantly better.

On the other hand, the Detroit Pistons aren’t in any shape to make a legitimate run at an NBA championship. They have nice pieces, but there are teams out there that could take them down in a seven-game series with ease.

The Detroit Pistons are tied up in a lot of money as well so it would be extremely difficult to add to what they have without shedding salary.

It’s a very unique, yet very frustrating situation they are in as an organization in that sense.

What do the readers think?

There seems to be a very mixed opinion from the fan base about the current state of the organization. Are the Detroit Pistons doing an adequate job? Are you unhappy with their current state. We’d love to hear from you.