Stan van Gundy has said that the Detroit Pistons have "no excuses" for not being successful in the NBA next season.
The former Orlando Magic coach was appointed as the team's new coach and president earlier this week, after Maurice Cheeks was dismissed midway through the 2013-14 campaign.
He told reporters: "There's no excuses now. What happens a lot of times in this thing is, and I know because I talk to coaches all the time. Coaches say, 'I'm doing a great job but this guy is not getting me good enough players'. And the front office is telling ownership, 'We put together a great roster and the coach is screwing it up'. There's none of that anymore. It's on us to get it done.
"One of the big problems at least in our league right now in a lot of places is there is not a great connection necessarily between front office and coaching. This setup, nothing to do with power, it allows us to really create a tremendous synergy and a very unified organisation."
The Pistons finished the season with a 29-53 record.
Sian Cowper
