There’s a chicken-or-the-egg quality to circumstances that saw Andre Drummond named an All-Star and be voted to the postseason All-NBA team and earned Stanley Johnson and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope invitations to USA Basketball’s Select Team workouts this summer.
Did the Pistons make a 12-win leap over a season ago because those players got that much better? Or did recognition come their way because the Pistons won 12 more games?
Maybe they’re inseparably intertwined. But Stan Van Gundy hopes the message it sends to those players and their teammates comes across in the value of team success.
“It speaks to two things – number one, there are some good, young players here,” Van Gundy said. “Hopefully, what it speaks to our players – and I honestly believe this – had we not made the playoffs, neither one of (Johnson and Caldwell-Pope) would have been there. What gets respected in pro sports in general, certainly in our league, is guys that can help you win. So they played prominent roles on a playoff team and I think that’s what elevated their status in terms of USA Basketball.”
Getting invited to participate with the Select Team – a group of young players Team USA puts in its pipeline for consideration to participate in future international competitions – could further the arc of progress for Johnson and Caldwell-Pope. Drummond has taken part in the past and was rewarded with a berth on the 2014 World Cup championship team.
But his first All-Star berth came this season, when the Pistons had thrust themselves into playoff contention, and Drummond wound up as the center on the All-NBA third team.
“He did have a better year, but if you look at it, it wasn’t statistically all that different,” Van Gundy said. “What’s the difference? You’re over .500 and you’re in the playoffs. When teams win, it helps everybody. It brings everybody individual recognition. And when they don’t, people brush you aside pretty quickly. Hopefully, our players really get more of an understanding for that – that it’s all about winning. Team success will bring recognition to a lot of people.”
But Van Gundy also knows that a critical factor in greater team success is individual gains made by its component parts. And they’re attacking that quest with the full arsenal of assets at their disposal.
Drummond is training in Santa Barbara, Calif., and the Pistons have assistant coach Malik Allen, staffer Aaron Gray and assistant strength coach Jordan Sabourin all stationed there with him to oversee his workouts. Bob Beyer has been with Stanley Johnson a little further south in Orange County for three weeks. D-League assistant Dion Glover is in Georgia working with Caldwell-Pope and Jodie Meeks. And on and on it goes.
“That’s something we’ve made a commitment to again, something (Pistons owner) Tom (Gores) has made a commitment to – not just with Andre but with all of our players,” Van Gundy said. “I don’t think you could put in much more time with our coaches and strength coaches being out, seeing our players wherever they are, than we are. It takes a big commitment on Tom’s end for us to do that, but he understands the importance of helping these guys grow and develop.”
While Van Gundy’s coaching staff is focused on helping players already on board get better, Van Gundy’s front office is occupied with the goal of improving the roster through Thursday’s draft and next month’s dive into free agency. The Pistons have the 18th pick in the draft and will have about $15 million in cap space with the ability to create more. But the greatest room for growth, based on the sheer numbers of players returning from last year’s 44-win team, will come internally, as Van Gundy has maintained.
“It really does come down to the work we’re able to do here in the off-season and then into the season,” Van Gundy said. “Are guys going to get better? We have young guys that certainly are in a window where they should continue to improve. But they have to put the work in to do that. We have to put the time in with them to help them develop. Are they going to get better? It’s not a given. There’s a lot of work involved.”
By all appearances, it’s already begun – with ambitious plans for it to unfold over the course of the entire off-season.