Pistons Head Coach has never been one to shy away from sharing his unfiltered opinion whether it is concerning his team, opposing teams, the officials or even on political matters.
To no one’s surprise he has no problem sharing his frustration with the Pistons defensive woes over the past month or so.
Here is him speaking about the Pistons loss to the Pacers Tuesday night in which they surrendered 121 points:
“I thought our closeouts were bad; we just left people open,” Van Gundy said. “It’s like we hope people are gonna miss early on. We wait to see if we’re gonna have to make the effort to closeout.”
The Pistons have been giving up 110.1 points per 100 possessions during their last five games after giving up just 103 points per 100 possessions the first month of the season.
Point Guard Reggie Jackson, who is trying to work himself back into a rhythm after missing considerable time with knee pain took Van Gundy’s frustration a step further:
“It’s beyond schematic, people just walk into the paint,” Jackson said. “People are literally shooting warm-up shots that’s like drill work. It’s a joke. It’s something that we gotta do. Coach can’t do nothing about it. It don’t matter if he has a scheme or not or not a scheme. If we were to play pick-up (basketball), I would hope so somebody would kick us out the gym.”
Those are some pretty strong words from your point guard, a good sign of leadership though if his teammates respect him and his opinion.
Something needs to change in Detroit. This is a team that was seen as a trendy pick to make the second round of the playoffs but is currently sitting in 12th place in the eastern conference, two games out of a playoff spot.
It seems like it is time for star center Andre Drummond to start to exert himself as the elite rim protector he has always had the potential to be.
