AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — Stan Van Gundy expects the Detroit Pistons’ front office to be on the same page as the coaching staff.
That shouldn’t be too much to ask, considering he’ll be part of both.
“One of the big problems at least in our league right now in a lot of places is there is not a great connection necessarily between front office and coaching,” Van Gundy said. “This setup ”“ nothing to do with power ”“ it allows us to really create a tremendous synergy and a very unified organization.”
Van Gundy was formally introduced by the Pistons on Thursday as their coach and president of basketball operations. Detroit went 29-53 last season, missing the playoffs for a fifth straight year. That was the end of Joe Dumars’ tenure as team president. Coach Maurice Cheeks was fired in February and replaced on an interim basis by John Loyer.
Van Gundy’s coaching is well respected ”“ he went 371-208 in seven-plus seasons with Miami and Orlando ”“ but now he’ll have the added responsibility of handling personnel matters. It’s rare for one person to have that much control in the NBA, but Doc Rivers does both jobs for the Los Angeles Clippers.
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