Day: April 18, 2018

Will Pistons stick with Stan Van Gundy?

With a huge dual role as Pistons head coach and president of basketball operations, Stan Van Gundy runs the show in Detroit. Will the team take some of his responsibilities away? Part ways altogether? With the team’s lack of success in recent seasons, anything is possible. It’s worth keeping an eye on. Here’s Michigan Live reporting:

It has been a week since the Detroit Pistons season ended and there is no word yet on the fate of Stan Van Gundy, or whether he has met with owner Tom Gores.

Gores said during the April 9 home finale that he planned on meeting with Van Gundy this week, likely at the owner’s home in the Los Angeles area. Gores said changes need to be made after the team missed the playoffs for the third time in Van Gundy’s four seasons as coach and president of basketball operations but did not mention anything specific.

Van Gundy has one year remaining on his contract.

Three teams have fired coaches thus far – the New York Knicks (Jeff Hornacek), Orlando Magic (Frank Vogel) and Charlotte Hornets (Steve Clifford).

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Justise Winslow willing to do whatever

The playoffs are not a time for friendship between foes. It’s about winning. Send the other guys home. And every winning team needs an enforcer or two. Or three. As for the Heat, here’s the South Florida Sun Sentinel reporting:

Justise Winslow is not here to win friends, not this time of year, and certainly not from the Philadelphia 76ers fans who took exception with his over-the-top defensive aggression against Ben Simmons.

“I can be the bad guy if that means winning,” the Miami Heat reserve forward said as his team prepared for Thursday’s Game 3 of the best-of-seven, opening-round series that is tied 1-1.

Winslow said maximizing his fouls and physicality against Simmons has returned him to his basketball roots.

“Growing up I played on all types of teams that would just press and defend and run around with our heads chopped off,” he said on the practice court at AmericanAirlines Arena. “But this is more organized obviously in the NBA. It’s fun sometimes you get to go back to that and just go out there and make plays defensively. It’s kind of in my nature. I was brought up in AAU, high school.”

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