It’s official, the Pistons have reached and agreement with Stan Van Gundy to be the Head Coach of the Detroit Pistons as well as the President of Basketball Operation. Van Gundy and the Pistons have verbally agreed to a five-year pact worth an estimated $35 million.
“Despite strong interest from the Golden State Warriors, who sources say had established Van Gundy as their top target to succeed the ousted Mark Jackson, Detroit managed to trump Van Gundy’s hometown team with the offer of personnel control on top of coaching duties.” via ESPN
It won’t be an easy job for Van Gundy, who will have to a lot of work cut out for him going into the season. He’s been know to have a strong personality, and good relationships with his players (excluding Dwight Howard the train wreck) , which should help this team get back on track.
In eight full seasons as a coach in Miami and Orlando, Van Gundy never had a losing record.
It’s been a while since Detroit has had a legitimate head coach. Let’s keep our fingers crossed on him doing as good as a job in the front office as we know he can on the court.
I do know one thing, I’m going to have a lot of fun using Photoshop this season!
not to be superficial, but when i look at stan van gundy, i just think “jesus, someone call chuck daly’s stylist for this guy”
but he is a good defensive coach, and that is what this team needs. we have players that should be great defenders, but have not gotten there yet
I’m optimistic about this hire. I’ve always thought SVG got a raw deal with the Heat and Magic. I can’t wait to see what he can do with a talented center who is potentially more coachable than his last two clowns (Shaq/Howard). I think he’ll bring Andre’s game up another notch or two. Stan and Josh Smith won’t mesh well with each other though…in my mind at least.
Totally agree with you MF. I like Stan the Man and think he’ll be good for the team.
Terrific news. I don’t see how they could have made a better hire.
There’s rumors swirling (rather predictably, I might add) that Monroe has played his last game for the Pistons, which makes sense given that: (A) Drummond is the franchise, (B) Smith’s contract makes him difficult to move, and (C) nobody with any sense would keep our Jumbo Three together. Personally, if I never see Greg Monroe’s face again it will be too soon, I just hope they can get something for him in a sign-and-trade.
Obviously I’ve said it before, but the fact that this organization let Monroe hit free agency still boggles my mind. You can’t let him walk for nothing, and you can’t possibly justify paying him market value. Hard to remember the last time there was a basketball decision as easy as trading Monroe before he hit free agency. Stuckey too.
Good hire. A lot of hard work ahead of him, but yeah, a legit head coach.
van gundy should already have a ring with miami, but pat riley stole it in 2006. Stan Van Gundy should bring us a championship in the next 5 years.
What this says for Tom Gores is a lot. As much as I have made fun of him for being an absentee basketball owner, this does a lot to make me think it will all work out.
Next year will be difficult as we transition into whatever the new vision will be (only Stan knows right now) but the most difficult year of this franchise is in the rear view mirror.
Getting Van Gundy was a great signing for the Pistons.
This is a good sign for the future. It’s the first time in several years we’re getting an established coach, who really wanted to come to Detroit. I’m curious about what’s next. There were a lot of rumors about Greg Monroe in the last couple of days…
Excellent hire! This is like Christmas in May!!!! Go Detroit!
Finally Detroit gets a bonified winner in at coach, our first since Flip. I had to let it marinate a couple hours after i heard the news, but really this was the perfect choice; A quality defensive coach with experience coaching superstar bigs and a winning track record. I’ve seen some complain about the big contract, but if he’s gonna be a gm/coach I think it’s reasonable. He’s already expressed positive feelings toward Greg Monroe, so that’s a bonus. Looking at the Magic the was the one thing they always seemed to have a problem with is finding help in the paint for Howard, so I get the feeling SVG is licking his chops at a Drummond Monroe front court, who in their first year starting together were the 2nd best young front court in the league behind Griffin and Jordan according to detroitbadboys.com analytics. People are thinking J smoove would be impossible to move with his contract, but I wouldn’t be so sure. There’s gonna be some losers in the free agent game that could see Carmelo, Bosh, James, and a few others on new teams as well as teams that may need a versatile big that can d up in the block, and at his true position Josh would be less inclined to chuck up long balls. Even with both players on the squad I would have Smith with the 2nd unit and the team would still be looking at roughly 12 million in cap space to go after a wing, not to mention the draft were the Pistons could even trade down and still get a sharp shooter like Kyle Anderson (who if things go as expected would probably be my pick), Stauskas (not that im giving up on KCP mind you), Hood, or even Mcdermott. At any rate this is going to be a very exciting offseason.
I love this signing! Now it’s up to Lady Luck to help us keep our pick and another team to ask us for our 56 million dollar out-of-position forward.
great pick for a coach… what this did for me as a die hard Pistons fan — it showed me that our owner is progressive and really trying to win. the news out today bout Isiah Thomas potentially becoming a minority owner is also a great sign and reveals that this owner has a pulse of Pistons fans and understand the culture of Pistons fans emotions — its communicating that this iwners is trying to win now and in the future while bringing some passion, emotions, heart and Defense back… SVG teams played D and also had intelligent Offensive strategy — we had some okay coaches but none of them were creative and put our pieces/players in a position to be successful… they relied on talent. i liked Cheeks but he relied on the amazing talent we had but he was not creative in his strategy. this is a legit hire and coach… and now we finally have synergy between the coach and front office… and Isiah Thomas is back in some capacity .. im happy as hell!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Get rid of Josh Smith and it’s a great team
agree
VanGun is a solid coach. Both in MIA and ORL he had good players to work with. I would argue that he has just as good players here in Detroit.
My only concern- The vibe of the city, the culture and history of this team, it is different than the Heat and Magic. The Pistons have a culture/history made up of Bad Boys and Wallace X2. Made up of hard noised defense and team ball. I really hope Coach Stan can recognize that and build a team with tough minded players who hustle and play team ball. This is a hard working city and the team has been successful when they reflect that. GoStones
this worries me. particularly that he gets coach and GM. was hoping for marc jackson at coach at least. i dont see stan doing a good job helping drummond. stan and dwight didnt exactly see eye to eye. And stan cost the magic the championship becaause he focused too much on scoring point guard in jameer when rafer was doing so well running the team. i dont trust stan coaching our big guys
that being said. if he wants to earn my respect simply put now that kevin love is available and wants out stan van gundy has to get kevin love and robbie hummel for greg monroe stuckey and pope or bynum
I see what you’re saying. one thing that should put you more at ease is the emphasis Gundy has been putting on the Drumroe when he talked about the future of this team. I feel the disconnect between him and Howard was in large part due to Howard and his diva superman persona and his refusal to expand his game (just look at what he’s done for L.A. and Houston). The magic struggled to find a good 4 to complement Dwight due to his inflated contract. These are both problems the Pistons don’t have with multiple good bigs and a more easy going franchise player at center. As far as Love is concerned, He will ultimately choose his own destination and He wants to play for a contender so the only way Detroit could get in on that action is as a third party facilitator picking up minor pieces (but hey maybe we can throw Jsmoove in there) in a deal that would not include Monroe.