Detroit Pistons head coach Stan Van Gundy certainly isn’t one to shy away from speaking his mind, regardless if the subject is about sports or otherwise.
During Sunday night’s Pistons victory over the Orlando Magic by a 114-110 score, rookie Luke Kennard blew consecutive assignments on both ends of the floor, and was promptly removed from action. The only issue is, this occurred less than a minute into the night.
Afterwards, Van Gundy (sort-of) admitted to making a mistake.
“Too quick a hook from me,” Van Gundy said.
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“I should have been telling him to get his head in the game and let him play through it,” Van Gundy continued. “The fault is still his. He can’t screw those two plays up. He needs to understand that. I’m still in the right that those two plays shouldn’t be screwed up. Those are mental mistakes — particularly early right at the beginning of the game. There’s no fatigue.”
“I’ve been really hard on him, but the main thing I told him is he’s got to get used to it,” Van Gundy continued. “I think he has a chance to be a really good player. I think I went too far the other day, but too often you take these young guys and you make excuses for them and baby them and then they don’t develop the way they’re supposed to.”
Kennard seemed to understand where the outspoken coach was coming from. He’s started the last two games and will likely continue to see starting action as long as Avery Bradley is out. Van Gundy spoke to Kennard during practice and re-enforced what he expects from him.
“He wants me to be ready every minute of every game,” Kennard said. “I messed up a play from the beginning and he just wanted to make sure I was focused.”
