Stan Van Gundy has won with teams that play nearly every conceivable style from his time in Miami through his stint in Orlando to his run in Detroit, always exemplifying the one quality all great coaches possess: the ability to conform your system to the talent on hand.
With his third edition of the Pistons, he’ll have a team that can play any way he chooses.
Go big? Sure. He can put Andre Drummond at center, new free agent Jon Leuer at power forward and Tobias Harris at small forward.
Go small? No problem. Leuer can slide over to center with Marcus Morris at power forward and Stanley Johnson at small forward.
Downsize even more against the Golden States of the world? How about Harris or Morris at center, Johnson at power forward, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope at small forward and Reggie Jackson teaming with the other incoming free agent the Pistons introduced Friday, backcourt blur Ish Smith?
“I feel like we’re going to be much, much deeper this coming year,” Van Gundy said Friday at The Palace. “Last year we were really fortunate we didn’t have injuries that set us back. I don’t know if we would have had the depth to overcome that. I feel now we’ve got four guys who can play at every position because we’ve also got versatile guys. We needed to get bigger – which we did with Jon – and we needed to get more athletic, which we did with both of these guys.”
Free agency played out pretty much exactly the way the Pistons hoped. Van Gundy, general manager Jeff Bower, assistant GM Jeff Nix and the four pro scouts he oversees – Al Walker, Tom Barrise, Rob Werdann and Adam Glessner – met for three solid days in May and went over free agency. More than that, they went over the rosters of every NBA team, looking at every line on the depth chart – the result of the weekly reports the four pro scouts file on every NBA player.
“I think we did get done exactly what we wanted to get done,” Van Gundy said. The late-June trade that shed the contract of Jodie Meeks to give the Pistons another $6.5 million in cap room proved essential in being able to add both Smith and Leuer, players the Pistons targeted and closed on quickly.
In Smith, the Pistons get a point guard who’ll take command of the second unit with a buoyant personality, a pass-first mentality and a trait Van Gundy coveted – the ability to push the pace. In Leuer, they get a power forward with a rare skill set – 3-point shooting, rebounding and the ability to defend inside and out.
It turns out that while the Pistons focused on them, Smith and Leuer – aware of which teams needed point guards and power forwards in free agency – were zeroed in on the Pistons.
“We played against Detroit three times last year,” said Smith, who started 50 games at Philadelphia after being acquired in a mid-season trade. “It was intriguing how the first team played and I thought the second team was really good but I thought I could bring my pace and ability to find shooters. Coach loves pick and rolls and that’s something I excel in.”
“When free agency started, right away I knew this was the place I wanted to be,” Leuer said. “Just knowing how coach Van Gundy coaches and this system, I just felt like it would be a real good fit for me. I’m just thrilled to be here.”
Smith played briefly under Van Gundy during his final season in Orlando, 2011-12, but it was enough for each to get a feel for the other and enter this marriage confident of its outcome.
“We can really have a second unit now that can get the ball up and down the floor,” Van Gundy said. “Everybody who’s ever played with him liked playing with him. He’s a pass-first point guard, a guy who gets in the paint and creates. He’s a much-improved shooter. I had coached Ish for a short time in Orlando, as had (Pistons associate head coach) Bob Beyer. Several of our front-office staff were there at the time. We knew what a high-character guy we were getting. You could see from the comments of the two guys who had played with him before, Marcus and Reggie, how respected he is. We are very, very lucky to have him.”
Leuer gave the Pistons a first-hand glimpse of his versatility and potential to grow into a greater role when Phoenix pushed the Pistons to overtime at The Palace in December. In 38 minutes, playing much of it at center, Leuer recorded 20 points on 8 of 13 shooting, hitting 2 of 3 from the 3-point arc, to go with six rebounds, five assists and two steals. Van Gundy said Pistons scouts watched 90 percent of Leuer and Smith’s games, so they didn’t pursue the 6-foot-11½ Leuer based solely on that night. But it was a pretty good audition tape for Leuer to provide Van Gundy.
“Jon’s a guy I have targeted to get since I was back in Orlando,” Van Gundy said of Leuer, who came out of the same draft that has given the Pistons Jackson, Harris and Morris, 2011. “We’ve tried to trade for him both years here. It wasn’t an easy position to fill because we wanted a guy with size and Jon’s got that. We wanted a guy who could move his feet defensively and defend out on the perimeter as well as inside and Jon certainly has the ability to do that. But we didn’t want to give up shooting. In fact, we wanted to add shooting. Jon does that. He really checked all boxes and, quite honestly, there wasn’t another guy in the free agency period we thought checked all three boxes.”
With the new pieces for his tool box, Stan Van Gundy is going to be able to check off pretty much every lineup box on the menu next season.