Pistons' Van Gundy critical of job he's done
First-year Detroit coach Stan Van Gundy had some surprisingly candid remarks about his work performance this season.
"I don't think I've done a real good job," Van Gundy said before Friday's game. "I think there's more to this team than I've gotten out of them."
Van Gundy acknowledged that it has been a challenge working with four different lineups. The Pistons cut Josh Smith, lost Brandon Jennings to an injury, then made a trade to get point guard Reggie Jackson from Oklahoma City.
"I just think it took me awhile to learn each team, and we've had four distinct ones," Van Gundy said. "I guess where I'm most disappointed in myself is we have not come as far defensively as we should have come at this point.
"I think if you look at the teams that made big jumps from one year to the next, whether it's Atlanta or Milwaukee, those teams have taken big jumps defensively, and we need to do the same thing next year."
Still waiting on Rose:
Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau doesn't want anyone to go overboard with expectations about the impending return of Derrick Rose from a knee injury.
"We've been down this road so many different times with him," Thibodeau said. "He's got to get acclimated to playing again and obviously he's not going to start off playing the amount of minutes he was playing prior to the injury. But he'll get back. We just have to be patient and let him work through it.
"I thought right prior to before the all-star break, that was his best stretch of basketball, but it took him time to get there and we have to understand that."
Mirotic wins award:
Bulls forward Nikola Mirotic won Eastern Conference rookie of the month for March. Mirotic averaged 20.8 points and 7.6 rebounds last month and led the entire NBA in fourth-quarter scoring.
Mirotic also won the monthly award in December. Other East winners this season were Milwaukee's Jabari Parker, Orlando's Elfrid Payton and Boston's Marcus Smart.
Brotherly support:
A few weeks ago, ESPN analyst Jeff Van Gundy ripped Bulls management for his perceived lack of support for Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau. Would Van Gundy stand up for his brother the same way?
"If my front office is not supporting me, we have a much bigger problem," Stan Van Gundy said.