5 reasons Detroit Pistons can win NBA Finals
By John Buhler
2. Stan Van Gundy and The Wall
Perhaps the coolest part of the Pistons making the postseason for the first time in eight years in 2015-16 is that their great head coach/general manager Stan Van Gundy will get to coach his on-the-rise team not even two years since being at rock bottom.
In 2014-15, Detroit was 5-25 through 30 games before the Josh Smith era graciously came to an end in Motown. Remarkably, Van Gundy has a young corps in place in Detroit that has the potential to be very good for a very long time.
Not only is Van Gundy a great tactician, but he is a strong players coach that uses his patented emotional leadership style to his advantage. His “Build a wall” timeout speech from last season went viral, and there’s no telling what Van Gundy will use to motivate his underdog team in these NBA Playoffs.
Van Gundy’s first two stops as an NBA head coach with the Heat and the Orlando Magic may have ended in dissapointment after promising starts. However, he does seem to have a great deal of positivity around this Pistons corps.
Should Detroit push a playoff foe to six or seven games, it will be on Van Gundy to come up with another Wall-type timeout rant to put the Pistons over the edge en route to victory in upset fashion. Needless to say, Van Gundy is easily one of the better all-around head coaches that will participate in the 2016 NBA Playoffs and that is a major advantage for this young Pistons team.
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