Stan Van Gundy's job status for the future is up in the air. Let's look at both sides and come to a conclusion.

Another season is coming to a close, and for the first time in his tenure, there is real uncertainty about the status of Stan Van Gundy's job with the team. In his four seasons with the Pistons, he will have made the playoffs once and produced a single winning record. With the high water mark being a 44 win, 8th seed, first round exit via sweep, in the 2015-2016 season. It is undeniable that he inherited a very bad situation when he arrived, but the improvement has not been what everyone had hoped.

The Good

First and foremost is that there is a certain basic amount of competence that the team has experienced under Stan Van Gundy since his arrival. Remember that from the 08-09 season (when Chauncy Billups was traded) to when Van Gundy arrived in the summer of 2014, the Pistons never won more than 30(!!) games and were constantly embroiled in internal problems. Leaks are rare, players don't complain to the media, guys stay in line, and the Pistons are no longer the Knicks without New York. Even if Van Gundy is not the guy to take the Pistons into the next step towards hopeful contention, he and his regime have certainly brought a degree of stability, professionalism, and competency that had become totally absent from the franchise.

The biggest argument for keeping Van Gundy is tied into the above point. Is that it is not as simple as firing Van Gundy and immediately finding a replacement. As much as the Pistons have been disappointing the past two years, Pistons fans do not have to think that far back to know that it could be a whole lot worse. There is a strong argument that Van Gundy is a better option than anyone else, especially given that he only has one more year on his contract.

There is a lot of things that Van Gundy does that is actually very good. First off, even if his style rubs some people the wrong way and some argue that the game has passed him by, the Pistons have had many markers of a well-coached team. Despite not exactly having a killer collection of defenders, the Pistons have hovered around the top ten of defensive efficiency the past three years, limited fast-break opportunities, and rebounded the ball at a really high level. This is why the Pistons generally have outperformed their per-possession numbers. Because they almost always get more possessions and shots than their opponents, which is something that Van Gundy should get a lot of credit for.

As a front-office, the Pistons have been a mixed bag under Van Gundy. But in a basic sense, there is a pretty simple argument of where the roster was to where it is now. When Van Gundy arrived the Pistons best two players were centers, one of whom wanted out, and they also had Josh Smith chucking away. Heading into next year the Pistons will have two all-stars in Drummond and Griffin, some young potential in Kennard and even still Stanley Johnson, also Reggie Bullock and Jackson. The salaries may not all match the talent, but it is undeniable that the overall talent on the roster has improved considerably.

The biggest argument in favor of him is that injuries (mostly to Reggie Jackson) have killed the team the past two years. There is a very good argument that if Reggie Jackson doesn't have a freak ankle injury this season, the Pistons have home-court in the first round of the playoffs this season. Given the talent assembled it may be worth it to let Van Gundy get his last season to see if he can get a mostly healthy season for his team to do something.

One argument that also does not really stand is Van Gundy's treatment of young players. Of the three first-round picks Van Gundy has made, two of them had major roles in the rotation in their rookie seasons and were fairly successful. (even if Johnson has not built a whole lot on that promising rookie season) While I am as big a Stanley Johnson fan as there is, for all the people who wish Van Gundy would give Johnson a consistent role it is understandable why it has been inconsistent. Johnson has been very bad at times and is a very tricky piece; maybe if he could manage to shoot even 33% from deep, Van Gundy could have more freedom to give him a consistent role.

The Bad

Look, regardless of all the excuses made above, and more than I could make, this is a bottom line league. It is about winning basketball games, and the Pistons have not won enough. Reggie Jackson may have had two straight seasons derailed by injuries, they overturned a huge amount of the roster in the middle of this season, and a lot of the numbers may suggest that Van Gundy should get another chance, you have to win games. Especially given that Van Gundy has a say in the roster he is working with you cannot really make any excuse for it. Van Gundy himself talked about this a couple of weeks ago, that even though he obviously thinks he deserves another season and hopes that he does, he knows what this league is about and if the Pistons had simply won a few more games his job would be secure.

Beyond that, Van Gundy's lack of winning is not purely a circumstance of bad luck. He and the organization have made plenty of mistakes. As a coach, he has probably not coached shot selection as much as he should. Last year the Pistons led the NBA in long twos and are still in the middle of the pack in three-pointers attempted. There is a good chance that the Pistons could've squeezed another point per 100 possessions out of their offense if Van Gundy was more willing to get on guys about not settling for long twos and instead take a couple more threes per game or drive to the hoop.

Van Gundy has also not been exactly creative as a coach and this is probably at the root of the shot selection problem. When he gains full trust of a player he will ride them too far while being too quick to pull guys who he doesn't trust. Watching Avery Bradley lay bricks while Kennard, Galloway, and Bullock played minimal roles earlier this season was a bit painful, especially since post-trade both Kennard and Bullock have been very good.

As President of Basketball Operations Van Gundy has been a mixed bag, similarly to his coaching, but the mix has more bad as President. The biggest mistake he's made in free agency is probably signing Jon Leuer instead of just retaining Anthony Tolliver, and the Leuer contract is now a big weight on the team, as is the Langston Galloway contract although if things shake out right that one could still end up being not so bad. And while it is not the biggest sin in the world to get no value at all out of three straight second-round picks it certainly doesn't help. Stanley Johnson still has a chance to work out but he has certainly not been a roaring success, same with Henry Ellenson, and as good as Luke Kennard has been it is certainly painful to see Donovan Mitchell playing in Utah. There is also the fact that the Pistons are now in cap hell, even if Jackson and Griffin stay mostly healthy the Pistons will have to get lucky with a wing or two in order to reach real contention due to the salary cap situation. So while the increase in talent is undeniable, it has come at a high price.

In the end, the upside and downside of Van Gundy of both his roles are pretty similar. There is good stuff that he has done, anyone who would call his time with the Pistons a disaster is either being purposefully obtuse or wasn't really paying attention, but it has also been far from a roaring success. There are several potential moves or choices that could've maybe made it a success and Van Gundy missed it. There is still a very real chance that this core of players becomes really good next year, but it is a chance and not a guarantee and that is the problem.

What about just removing him as President of Basketball operations?

A lot of people have brought up this option. While I wouldn't be totally shocked if this happened, it may not actually have the desired outcome that a lot of people hope. Based on what insiders and Van Gundy himself have said, his role in the front-office is really not that large. He mostly lets his guys do his job, he just gets a final say on things when push comes to shove. Similarly to the President of the USA, everyone focuses on him, but the reality is that his impact on actual law-making is pretty minimal. While it may happen and may even have a positive impact on the franchise, it is entirely possible that removing the title from Van Gundy may be nothing more than that. He would likely still have a very significant say in any decisions he just simply wouldn't have the official title anymore.

The Verdict

At this point, I am not sure I can think of any issue that is so central to the Pistons that I have such little significant opinion on. Whether they fire him or not, I will not be going very far out of my way to defend him. But I also am far from the people who believe that he is the problem with the Pistons. Given that he has one more year on his contract and they only just achieved what was their original goal of attaining a star caliber player, I would just as soon give him one more year to see if he can do anything with the finished product he built.

But my biggest worry about firing him remains that I don't know who would be better. There will certainly be some more coaches who become available once the season is over and perhaps someone I like will come available, but for now, I'd lean towards keeping him. Getting various assets to compete until you are able to put together a package for a star was always the plan from the moment Van Gundy arrived in Detroit. Perhaps Griffin is not the right star; perhaps they traded the wrong assets in Tobias Harris and a pick. Despite the imperfections, this is the sort of roster Van Gundy was brought in to build, and I think he should get a chance to try and make it work.

Team owner Tom Gores was at the Pistons final home game and talked briefly about the situation with Van Gundy and the team at large. He said: "We're going to make some changes. I'm just not sure what they are." He also strongly maintained that he has not made a decision regarding Van Gundy, so take that for what you will. Most insiders have said a lot of words lately about how Van Gundy has a very real chance to stick around, but no one would end up being shocked if he is terminated in the next week.

What do you think? Should he be fired? Should he keep just one job?