Stan Van Gundy’s mission is blunt: Build the Pistons into a title team. That won’t happen, he insists, until they field one of the NBA’s 10 stingiest defenses.
“That’s pretty well been proven,” he said after Thursday’s morning practice, another three-hour run heavy on defensive emphasis.
You can’t take just any of the NBA’s 30 rosters and fashion one. But Van Gundy thinks he’s got everything he needs with the roster he inherited and refashioned to field a defense that Pistons fans with roots in the Bad Boys or Goin’ to Work eras would recognize and appreciate.
“I think we have the makings, if our coaching staff – if we do our job – and those guys take pride. The major question is our mentality and how much pride we’ll take in it. If we do, we have what we need to be really, really good defensively.”
Van Gundy says the notion that teams need multiple premier perimeter defenders is overblown. The NBA’s crackdown on hand-checking and physicality has made it difficult for even elite defenders to flourish without regard to defensive structure.
The ingredients he requires to bake the cake are pretty simple: “Tough, smart, disciplined guys who don’t miss rotations, who don’t make mistakes, and then you need size.”
In Andre Drummond, Greg Monroe and Josh Smith, the Pistons have the size, undeniably. Drummond and Smith not only have size, but elite athleticism for their positions. Monroe’s basketball IQ has always been lauded.
“We’ve got two outstanding shot-blockers and we’ve got another guy with great size who I think will take charges and put his body in front of the rim.” On the perimeter, “We’re lucky to have some guys,” he said. “I mean, (Kentavious Caldwell-Pope) can really get down and move his feet. D.J. (Augustin) is pretty good, but KCP can be elite.”
So, check-check-check on the necessary physical ingredients. Back to the glue that binds great defenses.
“We’ve just got to learn what we’re doing and take more pride in it that we did a year ago,” he said. “We’ve got to take more pride in doing our job, not letting our teammates down, things like that.”
“Things like that” are covered with great economy of words in the sign that hangs just to the left of center court in the team’s practice facility under the title “Defensive Musts.”
- Get Back
- Protect the Paint
- Close and Contest
- Pressure the Ball
- Defend Without Fouling
- Block Out and Rebound
“What it really boils down to,” he said, “is you’re going to try to take away, as much as you can, easy baskets.”
He’s done it well enough to mold top-10 defenses in both Miami and Orlando with rosters not dripping with great individual defenders. Dwight Howard became one during his reign, but wasn’t necessarily that when Van Gundy arrived in Orlando. On Van Gundy’s watch, Howard won three straight Defensive Player of the Year awards. Van Gundy pushed that award on the table in talking about his roster in response to a question on Drummond’s current defensive reach.
“He missed a couple of assignments today, as everybody did, but he’s got a chance to be great defensively if that’s what he wants to be. If he wants to be, he’s a Defensive Player of the Year type of guy, and so is Josh. I mean, we’ve got some guys back there that are capable of being that level of defender. I think KCP is an elite-level defender. And I think our guys are smart enough and tough enough to play well.”
He made sure to attach the qualifiers – the coaches’ ability to impart their system and the players’ will to execute it and the pride and chemistry that must spring from the team culture Van Gundy knows will unlock the potential he sees. But, bottom line, he’s not making any excuses. The top-10 defense the man Tom Gores entrusted with the future of his franchise knows is essential is firmly within their grasp.