Larry Brown

Larry Brown said on XM Radio that the Detroit Pistons are misfit pieces.

(AP Photo | John F. Rhodes)

AUBURN HILLS -- Larry Brown said on XM Radio today that the Detroit Pistons have misfit pieces but Stan Van Gundy will "get it done" in the president/coach's efforts to restore the franchise's health.

Van Gundy, after practice today here, said he appreciated the opportunity to discuss the 3-19 Pistons' issues with the last coach to win a championship here.

Brown, now head coach at Southern Methodist University, was coach of the 2004 Pistons.

Van Gundy said he called Brown about a week ago.

"I've talked to Stan," Brown said on Frank Isola's and Mitch Lawrence's morning show. "He reached out to me a while ago. I admire him. I think he's a hell of a coach. I told him, 'Look, you're the coach, general manager, president, all the people on your staff love you and care about you. You've had success before. Just do what you do.' It's a process."

Brown also said this year's Pistons were flawed by design, taking note of the big-three line of Andre Drummond, Greg Monroe and Josh Smith, with the latter two playing out of position when they started together.

"They have a terrific young center (Drummond), their power forward's a center (Monroe), their small forward's a power forward (Smith), their shooting guard's a scorer that doesn't make plays for others (Kentavious Caldwell-Pope), and I think they've got a young point guard (Brandon Jennings) that, when Scott (Skiles) coached him (in Milwaukee), he did a lot of good things," Brown said. "I don't think it's a fit right now. But he'll get it done. He's a great coach."

The Pistons are on a 13-game losing streak, one shy of the franchise record, as they embark on a three-game, four-day western trip beginning Friday at Phoenix.

Van Gundy said when he considered coaches who could offer advice and who had gone through similar experiences, he thought of Brown, a championship coach in both college and the NBA, but who also had a 31-51 season before rebuilding the Philadelphia 76ers in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and later left the Pistons to coach one 23-59 season with the New York Knicks.

"He's one of the best in the business and I also think that one of the things that we all know about Larry, people in the profession, is that Larry really cares about coaches and the profession, I mean, he really, really does," Van Gundy said. "And Larry's a guy who's had great success, but went through the New York experience and a tough start in Philly when he got there."

Van Gundy said Brown's central message was to adhere to your core principles and don't change them.

"He goes, 'It's hard to keep from doubting what you're doing, I used to beat myself up all the time, but you've got to stick to what you believe in, and how you think the game should be played, and stay with it.' It was a good thing to hear," Van Gundy said.

Brown also told Isola and Lawrence that Emmanuel Mudaiy, the 6-foot-5 Congolese-American point guard who committed to SMU but opted to skip college and sign for one year with the Guangdong Southern Tigers in China, "could have started last year on half the teams in the NBA."

Mudaiy, 18, figures to be a high pick in the 2015 NBA Draft but opted to play professionally in his first year out of high school to help his family financially.

While Brown said he understood that perspective, he believes a year of college is still better than a year as an international professional.

"I don't want to see it be the norm," Brown said. "I don't want to see other kids do it. I don't think it's the right thing."

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