Stan Van Gundy slams Pistons' effort: 'Team meeting my a--'
Detroit Pistons head coach Stan Van Gundy has never been one to mince words. As our Ben Rohrbach wrote on Monday, he showed that outspokenness yet again this weekend in claiming that his team has been worse since point guard Reggie Jackson returned from an early-season absence. Actually, that undersells Van Gundy’s level of candor — what he really said is “Hell no, we’ve gotten worse,” along with some takes on Jackson’s poor decision-making.
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The Pistons have acknowledged that they have a problem. Veteran center Aron Baynes called a players-only meeting while SVG was making those statements on Saturday, and they weren’t quiet either. Forward Marcus Morris called out the lack of ball movement, and others claimed that the ear had been cleared. Maybe all the Pistons needed was a shift in priorities and attitude.
Monday’s 113-82 blowout loss at the Chicago Bulls suggests Detroit still has a very long way to go. Following the team’s third double-digit loss in a row and fifth in seven games, Van Gundy made more comments on the Pistons’ performance. These were even stronger and spared no one, including SVG himself.
Pistons LIVE Postgame – 12.19.16 – Stan Van Gundy pic.twitter.com/O3zqo2b19K
— FOX Sports Detroit (@FOXSportsDet) December 20, 2016
Nick Friedell of ESPN.com collected the highlights:
“It was a disgusting performance,” Van Gundy said. “By all of us, me included. It was unprofessional, embarrassing, humiliating, whatever you want to say. It was terrible.” […]
“Team meeting, my a–,” Van Gundy said. “Like I said before, that stuff means nothing. It’s what you do on the court. Talking’s easy.” […]
“It looks to me like a lack of effort and a lack of heart,” Van Gundy said. “And if you don’t play hard, you’re not going to have any confidence, things aren’t going to go [your way]. We looked like we were hoping the game would be easy tonight, and it wasn’t and we just caved.” […]
“I guarantee you, on Wednesday night we’re not trotting that [starting] five out there again,” Van Gundy said.
The loss was as bad as Van Gundy’s words indicate. Chicago led 14-2 after a little more than four minutes of play, by 16 after the first quarter, and by 35 at the half. Detroit scored fewer than 20 points in three quarters, and the starters all finished in the range of minus-27 through minus-34 despite all playing no more than 26 minutes. The Bulls shot 59.8 percent from the field and went to the free-throw line all of seven times. The defensive resistance was minimal.
Jackson, for his part, took only five shots in a sort of parody of a pass-first point guard (though he only dished out three assists). Nevertheless, he said after the game that his goal was to “promote ball movement”:
Pistons LIVE Postgame – 12.19.16 – Reggie Jackson pic.twitter.com/HSd0Or5LnQ
— FOX Sports Detroit (@FOXSportsDet) December 20, 2016
This is all very bad. At 14-16, the Pistons are only 1 1/2 games out of a playoff spot and have plenty of time to get back into things. However, Detroit increasingly looks like a collection of players that doesn’t trust each other or their coach. Players-only meetings are supposed to increase accountability and togetherness — this one appears to have had the opposite impact. As Van Gundy said, they looked curiously devoid of motivation.
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Wednesday’s home game against the Grizzlies now looks like a serious gut-check. If the Pistons don’t up their game, don’t expect another Van Gundy rant. He may be too despondent to get riled up.
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Eric Freeman is a writer for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at efreeman_ysports@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
