3 things the Detroit Pistons would like to re-do in the last 10 years
Coach vs. President
I have to preface this by saying that I enjoyed Stan Van Gundy as a coach. The “Build a f—— wall” quote makes me want to actually run through a brick wall every time I hear it. I think he’s a well-spoken coach; a good coach. But, I think it’s very difficult to double dip as head coach and also president of basketball operations. It’s difficult to put your all into two different roles, each equally important to the team’s growth and success.
The re-do here is to remove Van Gundy from being the president of basketball operations. Him being in that role was a big factor in the team’s mediocrity over the last six years. He signed some contracts that didn’t work well in favor of the Pistons and used the stretch provision on Smith’s contract, as stated above.
where are they now?. Pistons draft picks of the last 10 years. light
His track record of adding free agents is pretty hit or miss. He found solid gems in Ish Smith, Reggie Bullock, and Aron Baynes. But as this Free Press article points out, in a great, brief breakdown of all his free-agent acquisitions, his shortcomings were what really derailed the franchise down the line.
More from PistonPowered
- Which Detroit Pistons could save Team USA in the Olympics?
- Detroit Pistons could have major roster churn after 2023-24 season
- The best Detroit Pistons to wear each uniform number
- Full Detroit Pistons NBA 2K24 ratings
- Detroit Pistons: Who will sign the remaining NBA free agents?
The Jon Leuer contract was expensive at the time and grew to be one of the most unappealing contracts in the league, which was impacted by his ankle injury in the first year of that contract. Boban Marjanovic, as much as I love him, which is a lot, at $7 million a season across three years, was painful. Especially considering that he played in 54 games and only 8.4 minutes per game. And the Langston Galloway deal, as the Free Press pointed out, hard-capped the team.
Van Gundy also made the deals that acquired Tobias Harris from the Orlando Magic, a very good basketball player who was then flipped along with Marjanovic to the Los Angeles Clippers for Blake Griffin.
If this had to be redone, I would still keep Van Gundy on as the head coach. His success as a coach is unquestionable. He has a win-loss record of 523-384, good enough for a .577 winning percentage. He had only three losing seasons in 12 years, all with the Pistons. He made the Finals with the Magic, as well as two other deep playoff runs, one being with the Miami Heat and the other with the Magic yet again.
Next. Pistons all-time 30 best moments. dark
His problematic time as the president of basketball operations is something that, in the revisionist world, would be redone. His lackluster signings turned into, over time, a burden of expensive contracts to offload or be stuck with. The stretching of Smith certainly didn’t help anything.