Stan Van Gundy Is The Right Guy For Coach; Will He Keep Monroe? [BLOG]
By: Mike Stone
@stoney16
He may look like Ron Jeremy but Stan Van Gundy is far from a washed up porn star. The selection of Van Gundy as head coach is perhaps the best decision Tom Gores has made since he took over the Pistons.
Van Gundy is just the guy this team needs right now. He doesn't take crap from his players and he is not afraid to let them know who is in charge. He does not jam a particular style even if it does not fit. His three-point shooting Orlando teams were much different from his teams in Miami. What I also like about Van Gundy is his passion for defense. Too many times in the past several years, defense has been an afterthought in Auburn Hills.
Van Gundy also has experience coaching big men, having dealt with Shaq and Dwight Howard. And while it's true they often butted heads, his experience should help in the further development of Andre Drummond.
The biggest question is his lack of experience in the front office. Coaching and being the man in charge of all personnel decisions are too different skills. However as one rival general manager told the Sporting News, the arrival of Van Gundy most likely will be the departure of Greg Monroe.
"There are two things that made that job better for Stan," the GM said. "One is the fact that he gets to make personnel decisions, that is a big deal of course. But the other is Andre Drummond. If you want to build your team around a young player, Drummond is the guy."You're not going to build around both him and Monroe; they had too much trouble making that work. You pick Drummond and move on from Monroe"
Click HERE for the full story from Sportingnews.com
The article points out that the best thing for the Pistons is to try a0d work out a sign and trade for Monroe. Hopefully Van Gundy will do as well as his predecessor did with Grant Hill early in his tenure.
The front office part of the job will be the most challenging. I hope he will hire some seasoned assistant GM like Oklahoma City's Troy Weaver or Boston's Mike Zarren and not his former GM in Orlando Otis Smith.
However one thing is for sure the Pistons will have a new personality and accountability with Van Gundy, and that is something that has been needed since Larry Brown roamed the sidelines