I was recently told by a friend that he drafted Ersan Ilyasova to his fantasy basketball team because he had a feeling that Detroit Pistons head coach Stan Van Gundy traded for him for a reason. Moves made last season and this summer have jumpstarted the Pistons re-tooling plan that starting with luring Van Gundy to town. Detroit currently sits at 23-20, but they are just 5-5 in the last 10 games and 9-13 on the road this season.

Van Gundy re-creating what made his Orlando Magic go

Ilyasova came to the Pistons back in June in exchange for veteran Caron Butler and Shawne Williams. He’s averaging 11.3 points and 5.4 rebounds this season. His ability to space the floor is what he’s truly coveted for and he’s shooting 37.2 percent from 3-point range this season — right on his 37 percent career average. But Ilyasova is way above his career average for threes per game at 4.2, up from his 2.7 per game career average. Van Gundy loves to surround his dominant big man, in this case Andre Drummond, with four capable shooters/play-makers and he’s doing just that with the Pistons.

Along with Ilyasova, new additions in Marcus Morris (trade with Suns) and Stanley Johnson (drafted 8th overall) have been major contributors this season, as well. Morris’ outside shooting hasn’t been as reliable with the upped frequency he’s shooting it in Detroit, but he’s still putting up career numbers in points with 13.9 and rebounds with 5.4 per game. Morris is more than capable with the ball in his hands, and has revived his career under Van Gundy.

While Johnson is just getting his career started, Van Gundy uses him to the tune of 22.3 minutes per game and 8.1 points. A concern with Johnson ahead of the 2015 draft was how his outside shooting would hold up at the NBA level. He’s taking 2.7 threes per game and hitting just 31.4 percent of them, but he is just 19 years-old and could see those numbers climb in the coming years.

A holdover from before Stan Van came to town, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope has also flourished this season. He’s putting up career numbers in almost every category. Playing nearly 38 minutes per game, Caldwell-Pope has been a major part of this season’s success. His three-point shooting hasn’t quite improved as he’s taking a career high 5.1 threes per game, but only connecting on 32.6 percent of those — after shooting 34.5 percent last season on 5.4 threes per. We’ll see how that shooting goes during the second half of the season, but his 14.8 points per game have risen to 17.5 over his last 10 contests. The 22 year-old shooting guard has a bright future ahead of him and a great match up tonight against Gary Harris.

Nuggets Keys to Success: 

1. Emmanuel Mudiay’s improved play continues. In January he’s averaging 11.3 points on 37.1 percent shooting. The percentages are still low, but the selection is getting better and his form is less chaotic, most times. Denver will need their minute man, as Mudiay has averaged 30.8 minutes per game in his last six.
2. Go Big or Go Home. Michael Malone has seen Enes Kanter, Steven Adams and now Marc Gasol decimate his small-ball lineups late in games. Although Joffrey Lauvergne is a center, both Nikola Jokic and Jusuf Nurkic would be better suited for true centers like the three listed above. Let’s see what Malone has up his sleeve for Drummond — who eats offensive rebounds for breakfast (5.5 offensive boards per game, 15.5 total rebounds per).
3. Over Will Barton‘s last 10 games, he’s averaging 12 points per game — that’s a dip from his season average of 15.6 points. In his last three he’s scored: 21 points, 6 points and 14 points. He’s been fantastic this season, and the team needs his production in order to be successful.