featured-image

Minicamp Van Gundy focuses on fixing D first, then parceling out the offense

Stan Van Gundy had earmarked the three-day break from the schedule as his opportunity to install new concepts at both ends long before he could have imagined what those changes might entail. He saw the break as soon as the schedule came out over the summer and how it dovetailed with the one-third milepost – a reasonable sample size to judge what worked and what didn't – and rubbed his hands together the way all coaches who love the process inevitably would.

Those plans, in large measure, dictated the timing of Monday's decision to waive Josh Smith. Van Gundy considered Smith's unusually high usage rate for a forward – the highest percentage of possessions on the team – and decided the Pistons, for the sake of their future, needed to spread the responsibility for the offense around, further concluding Smith would be uncomfortable with the results.

But he's also had to make an adjustment to his plans to make adjustments, if you will. Because Van Gundy is a coach who puts trust, first and foremost, in his defense – and because the Pistons have gone south defensively of late, allowing 112.5 points a game over their current four-game losing streak – that's been the focus the first two days of Minicamp Van Gundy.

"I had planned three weeks ago to make some pretty major offensive adjustments at this time," he said after Tuesday's three-hour practice session. "But our defense has been so bad that we've spent our time on the defensive end of the floor. We'll just play out of the offense that we have right now. We put two new things in today, but very, very simple things. But we will get more things in for guys as we go along, but we've got to get this defense solved."

The new lineup will include one Pistons fans have clamored to see since June 2012 when they drafted Andre Drummond: A Drummond-Greg Monroe pairing up front with a conventional small forward. They got 10 starts together at the end of Drummond's rookie season, then Smith was signed as a free agent.

"It's going to be fun being able to really get that duo going with Greg," Drummond said. "Trying to just make the team better. Josh is going to be missed, but we've just got to move forward. What's done is done. I definitely wish him the best with whatever team he goes to next."

As always, Van Gundy first considers the Monroe-Drummond defensive dynamic. Over the course of the first two months of the season, he's used them in tandem sparingly – least among the three combinations possible when one of Smith, Drummond or Monroe sat – precisely because of his defensive concerns.

"No. 1, when they have to play against fours who space the floor," Van Gundy said. "No. 2 – this has been a big issue; we've talked to them and we've talked to them in front of the team and we've shown film – they're going to have to do a lot better job of getting back defensively. They're both slow getting back. That's going to cause us trouble running. They're going to need to get back a lot better. Their energy up and down the floor is going to really have to improve."

There are a few questions that Van Gundy doesn't have answers for regarding the remaining effects to the rotation with Smith's subtraction.

Will Joel Anthony get regular minutes at center, even if it's just three or four a half, as the No. 4 big man behind Drummond, Monroe and Jerebko? Or will the Pistons wind up going small and using Kyle Singler or Caron Butler at power forward for those stretches?

"I think it becomes a matchup thing," Van Gundy said. "We're going to be ready for all of those things. That will take a little bit of time."

Singler, who pulled out of Monday's practice with a minor left ankle sprain, said he got some exposure at power forward on Tuesday.

"It's going to be a little bit of a transition," he said. "There's quite a bit that's different playing the three than playing the four. It's easier to play the two and three, but whenever you go to that power forward position, you've got to learn some different coverages, a little bit different play sets. If I do play the four, Stan's going to keep it simple. I think what he wants from me or whoever is people who can shoot the ball and spread the floor."

As for how all those possessions Smith used will be distributed now, Van Gundy said, "More through the point guards, probably a few more postups down low for both Andre and Greg and more plays for Jodie (Meeks) and (Kentavious Caldwell-Pope). That's where I would say the majority of that is going to come from."

The other element of the future Van Gundy wants to hasten: Spencer Dinwiddie. Is it possible for Dinwiddie to get the playing time Van Gundy desires without it affecting either Brandon Jennings or D.J. Augustin?

"No," Van Gundy said. So what next?

"I don't know when we get to that point. We've sort of said with him that we need probably half a season (to make a fair determination), so I don't know. We're not quite there yet, but sometime fairly soon. In games where (Jennings and Augustin) are struggling we get him in. We do need to find out who he is."

The Pistons will get a shorter practice in on Christmas eve morning, take Christmas day off and then play their first post-Smith game on Friday, hosting Indiana. That's when we'll get a first look at the future. But the evolution will be ongoing for the foreseeable future.

"We're trying to do some new things, so that's never really smooth," Van Gundy said. "It's going to take time. It's not like, three days, oh my God, this is a whole different team."