AUBURN HILLS, Mich. – Stan Van Gundy has only been in Detroit for eight months, but he's already leaving his mark on a re-energized Pistons organization.
When Van Gundy took over as head coach and general manager of the Pistons on May 14, he inherited a franchise averaging just 28 wins over its last five seasons, finishing no better than fourth in the central division.
Detroit took an alarming dive in the NBA standings after losing to Boston in the 2008 Eastern Conference Finals. Though it marked the team's sixth straight appearance in the conference finals, that playoff exit prompted the Pistons to part with coach Flip Saunders and make drastic changes like sending Chauncey Billups to Denver for aging superstar Allen Iverson.
From 2008-2014, the Pistons fired four head coaches en route to six straight losing seasons. Though his inability to find a stable head coach frustrated fans, former GM Joe Dumars' greatest flaw was his tendency to over-pursue free agents and sign them to crippling contracts.
The first of those contracts came in the form of a double whammy on July 8, 2009, when Dumars brought Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva to Detroit. Gordon received a five-year, $55 million deal, while Villanueva got $35 million over five years.
Gordon lasted just three seasons with the Pistons, averaging less than 14 points each year after scoring more than 15 points per game throughout his first five seasons in Chicago. He also failed to match his previous career lows in rebounds, three-point percentage and free throw percentage during his tenure in Detroit.
Gordon's contract proved so awful that the Pistons gave the Charlotte Hornets a first-round draft pick just to take him off their hands in June of 2012. That first round pick turned into the No. 9 overall selection in the 2014 draft, with players like Noah Vonleh, Doug McDermott and T.J. Warren still available.
Villanueva, on the other hand, lasted all five seasons in Detroit, but faded from a modest contributor to an irrelevant benchwarmer during his steady decline. His scoring decreased each season with the Pistons, and by the final year of his deal he made $8.58 million to play in 20 games, averaging 4.6 points and 1.7 rebounds per game.
But when Van Gundy took over, the Pistons made a few key moves that flew under the radar but have paid huge dividends in 2015.
First, on July 1, Van Gundy brought in a respected three-point shooter in Jodie Meeks, who was coming off a season in which he averaged 15.7 points per game for the Lakers and shot 46.3 percent from the court. Meeks signed a three-year deal worth just under $19 million and has been among Detroit's best scoring options since returning from injury on Oct. 7. He's second on the team in three-point percentage and third in points per game.
Less than two weeks after signing Meeks, the Pistons reached an agreement with free agent point guard D.J. Augustin, who came to Detroit on a two-year, $6 million deal. As a backup to Brandon Jennings, Augustin has averaged nine points and 4.1 assists per game, often saving the Pistons during spouts of ill-advised shooting from the starters.
Through 39 games, the Pistons are enjoyed a combined contribution of 21.6 points, 5.5 assists and 3.4 rebounds off the bench from Meeks and Augustin, two players earning a combined $9 million this season. By adding that kind of production at a reasonable cost, Van Gundy has primed the roster for contention in the East.
Perhaps the biggest move so far from Van Gundy during his young tenure in Detroit came just before Christmas, when he decided to pay $38 million to erase Josh Smith from the Pistons' roster. Van Gundy waived Smith on Dec. 22, sparking a streak of seven wins and injecting the team with new playoff life.
Since Smith's dismissal, the Pistons are 8-2, just two games out of the final Eastern Conference playoff seed. The Pistons went to Texas and beat the Spurs and Mavericks on consecutive nights, knocked off the second-seeded Raptors on the road and won six games by double digits during the streak.
Clearly, at 14-25, the Pistons are not where Van Gundy wants them to be. But the downward trend that haunted the organization over the last six years appears to be turning around under the new coach and GM.
Van Gundy hasn't coached half a season in Detroit, or even made a single first-round draft pick. But the Pistons are playing with enthusiasm for the first time in years, and that's because he's pressing the right buttons at the helm.