Jeff Van Gundy slammed the Detroit Pistons’ front office for its dismissal of Lawrence Frank, who was fired after two seasons and a 54-94 record.
"Detroit Pistons basketball slogan: When the going gets tough, we fire the coach," Van Gundy said. "It's unbelievable. It's unbelievable. These new owners in Detroit have to be exceedingly bright to have made as much money as they have. And to be duped again that your G.M. tells you that the roster is good and the coach is bad ... what was the problem with Michael Curry? What was John Kuester? Now Lawrence.
“They run through coaches and they haven't even begun to address their problem. They have very little talent and very little basketball character. You combine that, you're going to be in a long rebuild.”
The Pistons have had seven coaches over the last 12 years.
"I'm just surprised that when everybody acknowledges it's a player's league – everybody would agree with that – then the most important player or person in any organization is the person that picks the players. But we don't, as organizations, examine them,” Van Gundy said. “We just take the easy way out time and time again. You lose, the G.M. convinces the owner 'We got good players. It's the coach's fault.' We fire the coach; we bring a new coach in; we continue to lose. We fire that coach, saying that 'We have better players.' It just goes on and on. It's typical and I can't believe that the Detroit owners fell for it. I just can't believe it."
