Pistons' Van Gundy noncommittal on future of new starting lineup

The experiment lasted 13 games. It failed, and was temporarily abandoned, but it could be dusted off again soon. Such is the confusing life of the coach of a 3-14 team.

Stan Van Gundy was clear when he took the Detroit Pistons job in the summer that he didn't want to start the gigantic frontcourt of Josh Smith, Greg Monroe and Andre Drummond together, as the three proved a poor match a season ago. Playing three interior-oriented players who can't shoot wrecks the team's spacing, limits the creativity of the offense and generally clogs the interior for drives and post-ups.

But Van Gundy had little choice with Jodie Meeks sidelined and the wing rotation thinned out. On Nov. 5, just the season's fourth game, Van Gundy rolled his three bigs out together. Thirteen games - and 10 losses - later, the experiment came to an end, with Monroe moving to the bench in a 104-93 loss to the Golden State Warriors on Sunday.

"I don't have any idea," Van Gundy said after the game when asked if Kyle Singler would remain in the starting lineup for Monroe in a more traditional alignment. "Look, when you're 3-14, it's not like you're happy with the lineup."

Monroe toed the company line regarding coming off the bench, but the fact remains the team still lost. They're bad, and they don't seem to have a lineup option at their disposal that could solve their issues.

To wit, the Smith-Monroe-Drummond lineup has been bad, but it's actually been better than other Pistons lineups.

It's a tough spot for Van Gundy, then, with an ineffective lineup that runs contrary to his preferred style of play also happening to be one of his better options, at least in certain matchups. As he said, though, at 3-14, just about anything should be on the table.