9. Stan Van Gundy, Detroit Pistons
Stan Van Gundy is widely considered one of the better coaches in the NBA today to have not won an NBA Championship as a head coach. How his Orlando Magic teams led by center Dwight Howard and point guard Jameer Nelson didn’t win at least one is a great mystery.
After the Orlando gig soured, Van Gundy took some time off before going on his newest venture: bringing the Detroit Pistons back to relevancy. The Pistons have the longest current playoff drought in the Eastern Conference, going on six years. What Van Gundy is doing in Motown is what he did so well in Orlando: build a great team around a center, a point guard, and a high-volume outside shooter.
In Orlando, he had Howard, Nelson, and Rashard Lewis. With Detroit, Van Gundy has center Andre Drummond, point guard Reggie Jackson, and a great cast of young players including Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Stanley Johnson, and Brandon Jennings.
Detroit is 7-6 on the year with the 6th best defense in basketball (100.1). When Van Gundy’s teams do well on the defensive end of the court, then good things tend to happen. Van Gundy has an interesting way of building his teams as an architect. He’ll often overpay players to get them to come to less-than-desirable markets. Stan Van Gundy will also make a trade that many loathe that ultimately sets up a trade critics seem to love.
With Stan Van Gundy in Detroit, the Pistons will get back into the postseason, possibly as soon as this year. His team seems a little ahead of schedule and the 2016-17 Detroit Pistons might look eerily similar to the 2009-10 Orlando Magic. Get ready for The Wall of Detroit Basketball!
Next: 8. Frank Vogel