Stan Van Gundy Reaches 5-Year, $35 Million Agreement With Pistons

It appeared earlier this week Stan Van Gundy was closing in on an agreement with the Golden State Warriors to become their head coach. However, talks have fallen apart over Van Gundy’s desire to have control over basketball decisions and he’s headed to Detroit

According to Adrian Wojnarowski at Yahoo Sports, the Warriors were willing to make Van Gundy one of the highest paid coaches in the league, but were not prepared to let him have final say on personnel decisions.

Meanwhile, the Detroit Pistons entered the picture and owner Tom Gores was willing to do “whatever it takes” to sign Van Gundy, including providing the control he yearned for from Golden State. Late Tuesday night, it was reported that the two sides had reached an agreement in principle on a 5-year deal for $35 million.

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Heres more from Woj:

The Detroit Pistons are finalizing a deal to make Stan Van Gundy their president of basketball operations and coach, league sources told Yahoo Sports.

The negotiations centered on a contract that will pay Van Gundy $35 million over five years and deliver him full autonomy to rebuild the franchise, league sources said.

Golden State officials met with Van Gundy on Monday in Florida and left convinced he was leaning strongly toward the offer of total control in Detroit.

It’s an interesting hire considering Van Gundy has no previous experience on the personnel side. His coaching record, however, is stellar. He has a career winning percentage of .641 with one Finals appearance. These demands make sense though, when you consider two things:

First, Van Gundy is the candidate with the best resume right now. With multiple suitors and teams — like the Pistons — who are desperate to bring someone in to restore respectability, Van Gundy has the leverage to ask for control.

Second, Van Gundy’s previous coaching tenures in Miami and Orlando both ended badly with a fractured relationship between management and coach.

In Miami, there were rumors of an uneasy dynamic between Van Gundy and team President Pat Riley, who took over for Van Gundy right before their title-winning 2006 season. In Orlando, SVG had to not only manage a declining roster but also the Dwight Howard subplot that turned into a season-long circus.

Given his past experience, Van Gundy is probably weary of having these problems come up again. One way to solve it is to assume as much control as possible, which he has now in Detroit.

(Yahoo! Sports)

Do you think Stan Van Gundy is a good fit in Detroit?

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