Stan Van Gundy does not subscribe to the Gregg Popovich school of thought, where resting players is part of the curriculum. Instead, the Detroit Pistons head coach believes in putting his best guys on the court and trying to win basketball games.
When asked if he would consider resting some of his players, Van Gundy was as straight a shooter as he's been throughout his tenured coaching career.
“Look, I'm not one to do it,” he told reporters, according to Michael Scotto of the Associated Press. “Our guys get paid to play 82 games. Everybody that's healthy will play for us every single night, but that's just us. Unfortunately, you've got to be willing to – as a coach now – you're going to get criticized for that. If you try to win every game, you get criticized for that now. You don't have a long-term vision and you're short-sighted. That all may be true of me, but we're going to put our best guys out there every night and try to win.”
The Pistons are 3-2 this season through the first five games without starting point guard Reggie Jackson. Van Gundy has used a combination of Ish Smith and early-season addition Beno Udrih at point guard, which has worked dividends for the team.
“It's been a little surprising to me the guys being rested already. I mean, are guys really worn down already? We're four games into the year and guys are resting their players. That part has been surprising to me. I know it's a league-wide trend as we get into the season, but I really didn't expect to see it the first week to be quite honest.”
Detroit fell 109-101 Wednesday night to the Brooklyn Nets, a team expected to be a bottom-dweller in the Eastern Conference. The loss is looked at more as a “schedule loss” since the Pistons were playing their third game in four nights.
Van Gundy has no intention of changing his ways, regardless of what the NBA schedules throws at him.
“I don't think you have to rest guys game night,” he said. “I think it's fine if people want to, that's their choice and people have done it very effectively. I think every team and every guy is a different situation. It's just not the way we're going to do things and I'll take whatever criticism comes with that.”
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