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SVG's first goal was better transition D – and that step helped Pistons close the gap

Somebody asked Stan Van Gundy the day before training camp opened last September what his goal for the season was. If the questioner expected an answer that involved predicting a playoff berth or X number of wins, he was sorely disappointed in the answer.

"I want to get them to run back on defense tomorrow in a scrimmage. That's it. That's my No. 1 priority tomorrow. If you want the team goals, that's it. That on Tuesday, September 30th, we run back on defense consistently. Then we build from there."

So, how did the Pistons do?

Well, measured by that narrow parameter, very well. The Pistons were 23rd in the NBA in transition points allowed in 2013-14 at 14.1 points a game. They vaulted up to No. 5 in Van Gundy's first season at 11.3. That's 2.8 points a game. Consider that over 82 games this season, the Pistons were outscored by 82 points – exactly 1.0 per game. A season ago, the Pistons were outscored by 300 points – 3.7 per game. So cutting out 2.8 points in any specific area registers as dramatic improvement.

The Pistons might have made the playoffs this season with a break or two.

Maybe if they didn't lead the league in back-to-back sets with 22. Maybe if Jodie Meeks hadn't missed the first 22 games when his shooting would have greatly aided an offense at the time far too prone to the extended drought – the biggest factor in the 3-19 record to that point. Maybe if Brandon Jennings' season hadn't ended in January, precipitating a four-game losing streak. Maybe if the toughest stretch of schedule hadn't coincided with the trade deadline when the Pistons were adjusting to losing the 3-point shooting required to fetch Reggie Jackson in trade, triggering a damning 10-game losing streak.

Even with all of that, basketball-reference.com says the offense and defense numbers they put up should have resulted not in the 32 wins the Pistons recorded but in 38 – which would have tied them with Brooklyn (and Indiana) for the last playoff spot.

So when Van Gundy said at his postseason press conference last week, "The numbers and point differential will indicate that we were significantly better than we were a year ago," he's not blowing smoke.

"The big thing going forward is we saw strides in (Kentavious Caldwell-Pope), we saw strides in Andre (Drummond), particularly at the offensive end of the floor, we had a good acquisition in Reggie, who played really, really well the last part of the year. We're trending upward, is what I would say with the young guys."

Van Gundy looked at the team he inherited and saw that it didn't play consistently hard. He wants five players sprinting back after every missed shot. And as he points out, all it takes is each player to take one or two possessions off a game to mean the difference between winning and losing – look at their minus-1.0 point differential for the season to understand how narrow the line is between winning and losing, success and failure, the playoffs and the lottery.

Next season, he'll probably set the goal a little higher – not just run back on defense, but be a little stingier once you get there and set up.

Some of that will be the natural byproduct of familiarity – of having the same coach and the same system in place a second season. Some of it will come from the individual growth of those young players: Drummond 21, Caldwell-Pope 22, Jackson, who just turned 25. And some of it will come from the complementary pieces Van Gundy adds in free agency and the draft.

We'll dive a little deeper into that topic – the likelihood of a better defense next season – in Tuesday's True Blue Pistons.