Stan Van Gundy is pushing forward with his quest to demystify winning for the Pistons. It’s a simple approach, really. He hammers his tenets to them every day, a consistent drumbeat of a message, and promises the Pistons that if they do those things consistently – and, eventually, consistently well – winning will follow.
When you lose with the regularity the Pistons have over the last five seasons, it can seem as though winning is a club of exclusive membership with a secret password required to enter the room. Van Gundy scoffs at the notion. In his world view, hard work begets confidence begets success.
The Pistons are starting to believe in themselves. You could hear it in their words despite tough losses at Chicago and Washington to start their road trip. Brandon Jennings said he knew the hard work the Pistons have logged since Sept. 1, reporting to camp a month early, was about to pay dividends. Greg Monroe said, bottom line aside, his teammates were in unison that they were moving in the right direction.
Here are a handful of signs that Van Gundy’s succeeding in herding the group together and steering them down his path:
1. The defense is visibly more cohesive – Van Gundy is going to grimace every time the Pistons give up transition points or dribble penetration isn’t impeded before the opposition gets to the rim. Those things might be happening a little too frequently for his tolerance level yet, but they’ve diminished significantly over last season. The big three lineup of Andre Drummond, Greg Monroe and Josh Smith that was defensively vulnerable a year ago has been their best unit at that end this season. The Pistons are hovering in the middle of the NBA pack defensively – already a steep upgrade.
2. The offense, by and large, is producing good shots – The Pistons rank 29th in the league – ahead of only tank-mode Philadelphia – in shooting percentage. That’s a bit head-scratching, because the number of ill-advised shots sure feels like it’s diminished greatly over a year ago. Statistics show the Pistons have radically reduced the number of long 2-point attempts – the least efficient shot in basketball – and are getting more than three-quarter of their shots either in the paint or from the 3-point line. Here’s betting they won’t be 29th for long.
3. Their point guards are grasping the offense – Brandon Jennings came out of the weekend tied for 13th in PER with Damian Lillard, ranking ahead of players like Kyrie Irving, Klay Thompson and Kyle Lowry. He’s shooting well – in large measure because he’s taking better shots – and protecting the basketball. D.J. Augustin, a career 40 percent 3-point shooter, hasn’t found his groove yet but is playing well in every other area and giving Van Gundy an enviable 1-2 punch at the point. He’s comfortable finishing games with either – or, in some cases, with both.
4. The bench is discovering its identity – It took Van Gundy a handful of games to figure out a rotation, and while that’s always subject to change as injuries hit and circumstances change, it looks like he’s hit on a formula that clicks. Augustin, Kyle Singler and Caron Butler are the anchors, three eminently trustworthy players in areas of effort and execution. Jonas Jerebko is right there with them, though his role is a little more in flux as the Pistons encounter teams with more conventional backup power forwards – think Chicago and Taj Gibson.
5. They show up every night – Probably deserves to be first on the list, in fact. It’s been the hallmark of Van Gundy teams in both Miami and Orlando, so it’s no surprise. But it takes some doing to rub out the malaise that grips teams that haven’t tasted success for an extended period. All 10 of their games have been remarkably competitive – home or away – and that’s unusual. They’ve come back from 19 down twice to put themselves in position to win. All teams are going to have a game or two when they fall behind by double digits and the snowball never stops rolling. But those games shouldn’t happen with regularity. There’s not a more in-sync team in the league right now than Memphis. The Pistons could have gotten their doors blown off Saturday night – fifth game in seven nights, a back to back, last game of a weeklong road trip – but stabilized after falling behind by 11 early in the second quarter, spurred by the bench. Every time Memphis threatened to push the lead back to double digits, there was Van Gundy on the sideline, exhorting them: “Keep fighting, Blue! Keep fighting!” They responded, every time.
I’ll give you two bonus reasons for optimism, while we’re at it, though you’ll have to take these on faith, not on facts in evidence: (1) Andre Drummond isn’t going to shoot 41 percent – and when he drifts closer to his career 60 percent norm, good things will follow; and (2) It won’t happen for maybe another month and it’ll take him another few weeks after that to settle in, but Jodie Meeks eventually is going to have a big impact on the offense.
Should be an interesting next few weeks to see where the progress Van Gundy’s Pistons have already exhibited takes them.