Kuester calls for culture change after Pistons' loss to Timberwolves
March 2, 2011
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -- It's almost unimaginable that the Pistons could allow the Minnesota Timberwolves to score 116 points on 52.6 percent shooting, yet that's what happened Wednesday night at the Palace.
The Timberwolves came in with a 14-47 record and had won four road games all season, but didn't seem to struggle to earn their fifth.
Of course, you can always count on Kevin Love, who got his 48th straight double-double with a perfectly aligned 20 points, 20 rebounds. The Timberwolves didn't even need the efforts of former Piston Darko Milicic, who was away from the team on a family matter.
The Pistons trailed 63-61 at halftime but were shooting better than 53 percent and had 20 assists on their 25 baskets. They were also out-rebounding the Timberwolves, 25-18.
"Anytime you score 105 points, that should be enough points to get a victory, but we've got to make more of a commitment every day and change the culture of our thinking defensively and just making sure that we defend people," coach John Kuester said. "We've got to do a better job."
When asked what he meant about changing the culture, Kuester said the focus needs to be on defense, not offense.
"We've got to start taking pride in what we're doing defensively, change the culture of the team in work ethic, everything that we do from a defensive standpoint," Kuester said. "We've got to recommit to what we're doing on that defensive end.
Apparently, that goal is easier said than done.
"Our defense has been inconsistent all year," said Rodney Stuckey, who had 11 points and 10 assists. "We got 19 games left, so hopefully we can try to do something with our defense.
"I mean, it's tough when guys are not all on the same page."
Wait a minute, not all on the same page, 63 games into the season? Seriously? Why?
"It's everything," Stuckey said. "I mean, when you let a team score 109 points (actually 116), it's pretty much everything. We've just got to communicate with each other, help each other out."
Maybe when Dennis Rodman comes to town April 1 for the retirement of his jersey, he can offer some help in that department. If there's one thing the Worm was committed to, it was defense.
Greg Monroe, who currently wears Rodman's No. 10, is probably the current team's best hope in that department. Monroe had 18 points and 11 rebounds for his fifth double-double in his last six games. Not quite Love-level, but not bad either, especially for a rookie.
"That's how you win games, gotta play hard on defense every play," Monroe said. "Obviously, you're not going to stop a team every play, but you've got to make sure that effort is there every possession."
The funny thing is that it used to be when you thought of the Pistons, the first thing you thought of was defense. First with the Bad Boys and then with the 2004 championship team.
Now? Not so much.
The Pistons are allowing an average of 99.7 points a game, which would be unthinkable for the championship teams.
With the youthful lineup the Pistons are putting out there, defense will probably be hard to come by, something Kuester admits.
"That's going to happen, no question about it," he said. "We're giving our young guys a great opportunity. We're giving them a great look-see right here.
"We got two good practices ahead of us to again find out who's going to make that commitment."
Austin Daye likely can improve on defense, especially with his length, but for guys like Charlie Villanueva, Ben Gordon and Will Bynum, that's not exactly their game and never will be.
If Kuester really wants a defensive culture, the Pistons will have to find some different players to surround the offensive-minded ones they have. Otherwise, you can just expect more of what we have already seen.
