Stan Van Gundy’s Identity Crisis In Detroit
By Simon Smith
Taking The Reins
Van Gundy took over from a Pistons team that compiled a 29-53 record the previous season. From the team that took the floor on the opening night of Van Gundy’s tenure, only center Andre Drummond remains from the starting lineup. The first significant move made by Van Gundy was the release of forward Josh Smith via the stretch provision. The details of this move can be found here.
The move was very bold as Smith still had two years and $26 million remaining on his contract. But with a frontcourt consisting of Drummond, Smith and Greg Monroe, there were simply too many big bodies for this to work. The team responded extremely well following the decision, winning 12 of their first 15 games without Smith.
The first major trade was made just a couple of months later with the acquisition of point guard Reggie Jackson. Jackson wanted out of Oklahoma City and Van Gundy pounced on the chance to acquire his services. The following offseason, Van Gundy signed Jackson to a five-year, $80 million contract.
On top of releasing Smith, Van Gundy also let Monroe walk as a free-agent in the summer of 2015. As an old-school low-post performer playing alongside Drummond’s inside presence, this completely contradicted the style that Van Gundy wished to implement. In anticipation of Monroe’s departure, Van Gundy made a separate move to acquire a perimeter-orientated power forward in Ersan Ilyasova.
Van Gundy rounded out a busy offseason with the acquisition of small forward Marcus Morris from the Phoenix Suns. This was another opportune move by Van Gundy, with the Suns’ pursuit of LaMarcus Aldridge resulting in them ridding themselves of Morris, essentially as a salary dump.
Second Season
Van Gundy now entered his second season in charge with a team more closely resembling the one he desired. Despite having won just games in his debut season, the team responded following the early season upheaval involving the Smith departure. But sitting at 27-27, Van Gundy was still not satisfied. He packaged the aforementioned Ilyasova and backup point guard Brandon Jennings to the Orlando Magic in exchange for forward Tobias Harris.
Following this move, the Pistons ended the season with a 44-38 record, only to be swept in the first round of the playoffs by the eventual NBA champion Cleveland Cavaliers. Despite the sweep, the expectations were that the team were ready to take the next step the following season.