Skip to content

Van Gundy: Pistons 'have to be better' to return to playoffs in improved East

Tim Fuller / USA TODAY Sports

The Detroit Pistons ended their six-year playoff drought in 2015-16. Rather than setting goals to move up from the eighth seed this upcoming campaign, they're focused on simply making a return to the postseason.

"I've said that to our guys, quite honestly, that we'll have to be a little bit better just to make the playoffs again," head coach Stan Van Gundy told Keith Langlois of Pistons.com. " ... We were the number eight team. We don't have a lot of room. So just to get back to where we were will take work."

The race was tight in the East last season, with just seven wins separating the eight teams seeded No. 3-10. Van Gundy expects the competition to get even stiffer conference-wide and Ws to become even harder to come by, as the squads at the bottom in 2015-16 improved over the offseason.

"Philly is not going to win 10 games this year," he said. "They're going to win more games - significantly more games. So that's taking wins from everybody. If you look at what Brooklyn has done lately in their moves, they're going to be able to win more games. A lot of those teams that were out of the playoffs - Milwaukee will be better, Orlando will be better, New York will be better. It'll be harder to put up big victory numbers."

The Pistons had a 14-4 record against those clubs, helping them finish with 44 victories. Van Gundy's banking on the internal growth of his young group to propel them forward.

"I'm optimistic about the year, but I'm also realistic about the fact that we're going to have to be better. We can't be where we were last year," he added.

Daily Newsletter

Get the latest trending sports news daily in your inbox