Van Gundy: Pistons 'have to get a lot, lot, lot better' on offense

The NBA season doesn't start for another two weeks, but that's not stopping Detroit Pistons head coach Stan Vandy from stressing over his team's offensive struggles.

"We’ve got so much improvement to make," Van Gundy told Keith Langlois of nba.com. "Offensively, our ball movement, our execution in terms of screening and things, have to get a lot, lot, lot better. We’ve got some major challenges because we’ve played out of nothing but Reggie’s pick and rolls, pretty much. Now we’re going to have to rely on getting more ball movement."

The Pistons have already been dealt a tough blow to start the season, with last year's breakout player, Reggie Jackson, expected to miss six to eight weeks with knee and thumb problems.

Detroit has attempted to adapt to life without their starting point guard, but the results haven't been pretty, at least in Van Gundy's eyes.

"It was a very, very difficult practice for them because it was just going against everything that they want to do," he said. "We struggled mightily with trying to play that way. You couldn’t drive the ball, so the guys who just want to put their head down and go on every catch were forced into some very uncomfortable situations. But as we told them, if playing that way worked then I’d be fine with it. But it clearly hasn’t, so we need to make some adjustments and to do that we’re going to have to give it some conscious thought."

The Pistons will open their season Oct. 26 against the Toronto Raptors.