ORLANDO – Almost all coaches grow to distrust a sense of comfort. As soon as they feel there’s a worry-free area of their team, they start to fret something bad is about to happen to change the equilibrium.
So it was for Stan Van Gundy and the state of Pistons shooting guards. Just when he thought he had not one but two options to give his team an advantage at the position and help him win games, both were lost to injury – Jodie Meeks for two months, perhaps, with a stress reaction in his lower back, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope for far less, fortunately, when the knee he injured Sunday checked out mostly fine in an MRI.
Now Van Gundy is growing more and more comfortable at point guard, where Brandon Jennings and D.J. Augustin both turned in strong games in Wednesday’s win over Charlotte. You’ll have to look past their shooting percentages so far – a grisly .263 for Jennings, a more acceptable .370 from Augustin – but Van Gundy doesn’t have much trouble doing so at this point.
He knows he’s pushed bodies to their limit with a string of three-hour and longer practices over the past two-plus weeks and legs are a little wobbly. Beyond that, he also knows he’s given his players information overload. In fact, he considers that a major reason why it took Augustin until Wednesday – the fourth Pistons preseason game – to resemble the player who performed so well for Chicago last season and turned himself into a player Van Gundy placed high on his free-agent wish list.
“I’ve got to be careful that there’s not a reason for him to be looking over his shoulder,” Van Gundy said, acknowledging that he can be especially tough on his point guards. “Him or any of them, as long as we’re out there competing and playing hard and playing with some discipline.”
Augustin led the Pistons with 16 points in 22 minutes at Charlotte, hitting 6 of 10 shots – and that despite missing all three of his 3-point attempts, where he connected on 42 percent with Chicago. He also gave the Pistons six assists and just one turnover and grabbed four rebounds, in the process showing a flair for knowing where the ball is going to come off.
“He’s obviously a great playmaker and he can definitely make shots,” Greg Monroe, like Augustin a native of New Orleans, said after the win in Charlotte of his new teammate. “Today he was aggressive, that’s all. It’s the preseason. We’re all basically in a new place. He’s new here, but everybody’s in a new place with a new coaching staff. He’s just getting more comfortable.”
Not only did Van Gundy talk to Augustin after Sunday’s game at Washington, when he appeared tentative and shot 0 of 8 – “You’re a 40 percent 3-point shooter and they’re going under on you on screens!” Van Gundy admonished him – so did assistant coach Tim Hardaway, the poster boy for aggressive point guard play.
Augustin said he was “kinda, sorta” thinking too much instead of just playing basketball the way he’s always played it, with the confidence that made him a highly recruited point guard and a lottery pick after two years at Texas. Van Gundy says he hasn’t decided who the starter will be at point guard. Jennings, though, has done everything Van Gundy has asked of him and his assist-to-turnover ratio of 6:1 is outstanding. In four games, Jennings has 30 assists against only five turnovers; Augustin has 25 and nine, still superb.
“Brandon’s playing really well,” Van Gundy said. “He’s playing terrifically. That’s been throughout camp, the scrimmages – he won almost all of them – and I think we’ve been plus with him on the floor in every game. You’ve got to be really happy with what he’s doing and the shot will come. He’s just got to keep doing all the other things he’s done.”
Augustin doesn’t think it’s happenstance that Pistons point guards have done such a good job of protecting the basketball.
“Coach, he focuses on that every practice,” he said. “He tells us to take care of the ball. Brandon’s a great player. He’s been a point guard all this life, same as me. That’s our main goal, to take care of the ball. We’d rather get a shot than turn it over.”
So far, so good on that and most every other score where Van Gundy’s point guards are concerned – shooting aside. More help is around the corner, too. Will Bynum is expected to make his preseason debut in weekend games with Orlando and Atlanta after injuring a hamstring on the first day of camp and Spencer Dinwiddie could be cleared to play as soon as next week.
With all those options at point guard, it’s enough to make an old coach completely distrust his comfort level.