AUBURN HILLS -- Want to criticize Andre Drummond? That's fine with Detroit Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy. So is questioning whether Drummond is worth $120 million or whether being disengaged in the playoff-clinching win Friday over Washington is acceptable.

Taking it farther is where Van Gundy draws the line.

Drummond is well-liked by his teammates, and vice versa, and any attempt to extrapolate the 22-year-old center's actions Friday into something bigger does not come from anyone close to the team.

"I'm sure that getting the criticism he got in the newspapers and things like that, I'm sure it does help him to understand that he's being watched at all times and part of his responsibility as a cornerstone guy in the franchise is to lead and set an example and everything else," Van Gundy said. "So I do think it's a good learning experience.

"But I think the criticism is -- look, I think commenting on it is fine. But to really get deep into that it reveals some flaw in his character or something I think would be going way too far."

Drummond was back at practice Monday with a "lot of energy" after the Pistons had the weekend off, their first two-day respite of the season, excluding the All-Star break.

Van Gundy said he viewed Drummond's detached reaction to the end of the Wizards win as nothing more than frustration and said it "has nothing to do with what a guy is, and how unselfish he is, and what kind of teammate."

Drummond went to the bench with 8:51 left and the Pistons leading by two points because of his free-throw problems and the Wizards hitting the five-foul limit early in the fourth quarter. Drummond did not return and the Pistons won 112-99.

He spent much of the remainder of the game sitting on the bench alone while teammates and fans stood. Other bench players tried to coax him into the celebration before Van Gundy himself walked to the end of the bench in the final seconds, slapped Drummond's chest and pulled him up to join his teammates.

"When he got time to gather himself, by the time we hit the locker room after the game, he was fine," Van Gundy said. "He was happy -- happy for his teammates and everything else. But in the minute, he's a competitive guy coming out of a playoff-clinching game with eight minutes to go in the fourth quarter. Well of course he's upset. I'd wonder about him more if he wasn't upset.

"It took him a little longer maybe to recover and get back into the game with his teammates than we would like. But in the course of things, that's pretty minor. He's a guy committed to his teammates, he's a great team guy, he's happy as hell about the playoffs. It's just, you know, there's frustration in the moment."

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