Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy finding the right culture to build in Detroit

SALT LAKE CITY -- The Detroit Pistons are throwing things at each other.

A blowout loss in New Orleans couldn't be rectified with a trip to Denver. A massive defensive collapse in the third quarter against the Nuggets left the Pistons sifting through a road trip turning sour. Nothing is really guaranteed for Detroit despite being a few games above .500 because the Eastern Conference is unseasonably spry and quite deep in winning teams searching for the postseason. So losing those two games in a row on the road left a few questions about what the team could do better.

The consensus answer around the team appears to be communication. Maybe the best communication can come from a team bonding experience. This time, the choice for team bonding was an impromptu snowball fight. Outside the University of Utah practice facility, the Pistons used the environment around them as both a battlefield and ammunition. A good practice for the team set the tone for the day and slinging snowballs at teammates and staff walking out of the building, on their cell phones, was the move for them.

"We all like each other," second-year Piston Anthony Tolliver said about the snowball fight. "We get along really well, which I think is a really big thing to playing this game. If you like each other, you’re going to try to help each other out. Sometimes our on-court performance does not dictate how much we like each other off the court.

"If we do that more, if we’re more together on the court, I think that’s the direction our team needs to go. Taking that off-the-court camaraderie and really putting it on the court -- on the defensive end and on the offensive end.”

One of the biggest things you'll hear coaches talk about establishing within an organization and on the floor is trust. In creating a winning culture, players have to trust each other. Not to quote Sam Hinkie but they have to trust the process. They have to trust that sacrifice is worth making for the team and it will pay out later on. Finding 15 guys to trust the team concept at all times is everything Stan Van Gundy seems to be about doing because he trusts that his way of doing things will maximize everybody involved.

Van Gundy knows he's very demanding. He knows he pushes players maybe too hard at times. Unfairly for a long time, Shaquille O'Neal dubbing Van Gundy as the "master of panic" following the job he did coaching the Miami Heat from 2003 to December of 2005 stuck with him. Pleading and coaching gets confused with panic because of how adamant he is when it comes to playing a certain way.

He also doesn't get too caught up in big moments, which maybe doesn't bring your typical gratification people are looking for in any profession when it comes to a job well done. A win isn't a win but a chance to tighten up the defensive rotations. A snowball fight to build camaraderie is fine but it's also a mild concern that friendship and bonds can keep people from holding each other accountable because you don't want to upset your friend.

What Shaq deemed panic, others around the league call focus, discipline and balance.

Currently, Van Gundy is attempting to focus a relatively inexperienced Pistons team. Andre Drummond is turning from prospect to All-Star. Reggie Jackson is turning from prospect to also a potential All-Star. Rookie Stanley Johnson is being thrown into the fire where defense will earn him more burn. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Marcus Morris are being asked to be elite perimeter defenders. Everything is connected and comes back to defense, which is Stan's brand of basketball.

"We're not in a great place defensively," Van Gundy says about the 11th-best defensive team in the NBA. This is interesting because last season the Pistons clocked in at 21st in defensive rating. It was Van Gundy's first season as the coach and the executive. He made major changes like not committing long-term to Greg Monroe, waiving Josh Smith with a lot of time and money left on the contract and swinging a deal for Reggie Jackson at the trade deadline after Brandon Jennings. It was chaos but it was his chaos. And at a certain point, you have to focus the chaos into your brand of basketball.

We've often focused on the pick-and-roll offense and the stretch-4 spread offense of Van Gundy, but everything he wants to do starts with building the same defensive execution he had in Orlando. For Van Gundy, 11th in defense at this point just isn't good enough. It needs to be fixed, but pinpointing that is trickier than just saying "protect the paint" or "stop 3-pointers" because defense can be complicated in the NBA.

“It’s not one or two things," Van Gundy says about fixing the issues with his team's defense. "I think our major problem has been our pick-and-roll defense. We’ll have to be a lot better there. Our communication’s got to be better and earlier. We’ve just got to have a great deal more intensity by the guards, by perimeter guys to get over picks and get back in front of the ball."

Van Gundy said this about his team prior to a game against the Utah Jazz, who he was excited to play because of how much they put opposing teams in pick-and-roll coverage. He wanted his team to be tested to see if they could rise to the challenge of being better against the pick-and-roll. What Detroit does well on defense can be found in transition, found in closing out on shooters coming off screens or just spotting up, denying scoring opportunities on hand-offs, and keeping the other team from getting a lot of offensive putback chances for points.

The pick-and-roll defense ranks in the bottom 10 in the NBA. The biggest problem around it becomes the ball pressure at the top of the defense. Perimeter defenders have been too caught up in finding a circuitous route to avoid getting caught up in the screen than fighting through the screen and staying on the initiator's hip, keeping constant pressure to limit options for the offense.

Part of this comes from team defense communication, which everybody agrees needs to improve.

Stan Van Gundy is building his culture in Detroit. (USATSI)

"We’re 40 games in, so we’ve got to be comfortable with each other," Reggie Jackson admitted about improving the defense and communication. "I know we haven’t been together long like everybody else. Just got to talk. Just got to talk on the court. When you talk, you don’t just put your teammates in better position; you also put yourself in better position defensively. We have to continue to talk and protect each other.”

Communication, holding each other accountable and protecting each other. They sound like staples and clichés, mostly because they are. But they're the obvious answer to fixing a defense that so many teams still struggle to find. Anthony Tolliver is one of those veteran presences who preaches the sacrifice and accountability along with Stan Van Gundy.

Back in 2013-14, Tolliver signed with the Charlotte Bobcats in their first year under Steve Clifford, a longtime assistant coach who had previously worked under Stan Van Gundy for five seasons in Orlando. Before that, Clifford was an assistant in two different stops under Jeff Van Gundy. Tolliver was familiar with the team concepts that would be preached when he was traded to Detroit last season. Searching for perfection on defense is about respecting the game, and that doesn't always vibe with all players.

"Once you’ve played for him for a little while, I think he gets a feel for whether or not you can handle his style," Tolliver says about Van Gundy's style possibly weeding out players who don't belong, "and what he wants out of each one of you. Guys that can play for him, he keeps around, and the guys who can’t, he gets rid of.

"He knows how difficult he is but he pushes everybody to bring the absolute best out of everybody. There’s a method to the madness. He has a reason behind doing what he does.”

It's why panic for Van Gundy is the wrong way to characterize his demeanor. It's a quest for defense. It's an appreciation for the long journey that it takes to become a champion. It's a lifetime dedicated to basketball and demanding improvement and perfection because it's the ultimate competition in this league. Van Gundy has so much respect for the culture of basketball and the game itself that small victories can't detract him from the greater goal. Getting his players to realize that brings them that much closer to their goal.

Following a 95-92 victory over the Jazz, Van Gundy was walking from the locker room into the tunnel to do his post-game presser with the media. Right before he exited the locker room, a Pistons official caught former Jazz coach Jerry Sloan walking through to the exit. He stopped him and wondered if he'd like to say hello to Stan. Van Gundy walked out of the locker room door and was taken aback by the presence of the Hall of Fame coach. They chatted for a couple minutes, said their goodbyes, and Van Gundy walked to the scrum beaming.

"That's a bigger thrill than the win right there," Van Gundy admitted. "That's one of the all-time greats there. That's fun. I'm not in awe very often, but I am around him."

That's the bigger picture Stan is talking about. That's the respect and camaraderie he wants from his players about the task at hand. That's the culture being cultivated with the Detroit Pistons under Stan Van Gundy.