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Van Gundy creating Magic in Detroit

The Detroit Pistons have moved centre Greg Monroe on. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Roar Rookie
3rd August, 2015
1

Stan Van Gundy is clearly a guy who knows what he likes to see on a basketball court. Before his arrival in Detroit, the Pistons were a top-heavy team loaded with talented big men (Andre Drummond, Greg Monroe and Josh Smith) who couldn’t shoot, protect the rim or mesh together in any meaningful way.

Even after his hiring in the dual role of President of Basketball Operations and Head Coach in May 2014, that same Pistons team failed to make immediate waves, eking out a dismal 5-23 start to the season.

Soon however, Van Gundy started implementing personnel changes to his roster that reminded many of what made his former teams so formidable.

Now, a year and change after his hiring, the 2015-16 Detroit Pistons are poised to become the same juggernaut the Orlando Magic were when led by Van Gundy to the 2009 finals.

It started with Josh Smith being waived in December 2014. Smith was a bad fit for the Pistons; playing out of position further away from the basket as a small forward and building a house made of bricks every other game will do that. Smith’s departure allowed Van Gundy to play capable shooters at his position.

Suddenly, floor spacing happens. Whereas opposing teams were previously used to letting Smith shoot the ball any time he caught it, now they have to defend Detroit’s jump-shooters with a degree of respect, while at the same time being at the risk of Andre Drummond strolling to the rim uncovered.

Fun stat: after Smith was waived, the Pistons won their next 12 out 15 games.

This improvement towards a winning tradition will hopefully continue with the free-agency contract extension of point guard Reggie Jackson. Jackson, who was originally signed in the wake of Brandon Jennings’ achilles tear, started 27 games with the Pistons last year, apparently impressing Van Gundy and co. enough during that time that they gave him a five-year, $80 million contract to be the lead ball-handler for years to come.

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Jackson did have some truly extraordinary games during that time, and his large contract could easily be more to do with his ability to run the Van Gundy system rather Jackson’s ability as a player alone. Still, 27 games seems a small sample size for such a long-term contract, so you have to wonder whether Van Gundy sees something the average observer does not.

Going into the ’15-16 season, the Pistons have an intimidating centre who excels at rebounding and blocking, coupled with a point guard capable of putting up All-Star numbers on any given night. They have then surrounded these two with capable shooters at every position. Starting to sound like the ’09 Magic?

In fact, apart from their three centres (Drummond, Joel Anthony and recent pick up Aron Baynes), everyone on the Detroit Pistons roster can hit three-point shots at a decent percentage. You’ll remember that the ’09 Magic followed a devastatingly-simple 4-out 1-in offensive plan; give the ball to Dwight Howard in the paint and let him beast on people, and when he starts to get double or triple-teamed have him pass the ball out to Courtney Lee, Rashard Lewis, or any other of the numerous ready-and-capable shooters Van Gundy had that team stacked with for an easy trey.

Now we have a Detroit team that can do essentially the same thing. While it must have hurt Detroit fans to see Greg Monroe and Josh Smith go to Milwaukee and Houston, respectively, for nothing (OK maybe not Smith), Van Gundy clearly saw those as necessary moves to clear up cap room; room that was then used to sign floor-spacers like Steve Blake and Danny Granger and combo forwards Marcus Morris and Ersan Ilyasova.

These names certainly don’t jump off the page, but when viewed in the context of what Van Gundy is building, the comparison to his Orlando blueprint becomes obvious.

Of course, these two teams don’t have the same pros and cons on every level: that Magic team was defensively elite, with three-time Defensive Player of the Year Howard anchoring it. Even though the ’09 Magic had defensively suspect players, Howard’s dominance was such that even if someone blew by Hedo Turkoglu on their way to the basket, Dwight was always there to swat it away.

It remains to be seen whether Drummond can reach the same levels of defensive awareness and lateral quickness that made Howard such a force in Orlando, but with Drummond only turning 22 this year, he’ll continue to improve.

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I like that Van Gundy sees the trend of small-ball line-ups in the NBA and is moving with it, picking up less-traditional forwards who excel more in their shooting ability than their back-to-the-basket play, providing the point guard (whether it’s Jennings or Jackson) with offensive options while also giving Drummond the floor space to cut to the basket.

Detroit’s defence is still a question mark, but the always-dependable Van Gundy system makes it clear now what they’re working towards on offence.

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