<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">AUBURN HILLS -- It was an odd thing to be asking about a coach in the second year of a four-year contract, especially one who had won a franchise-high 64 games last season. Still, given the way things ended, it seemed like a legitimate question to pose to Pistons president Joe Dumars. Is Flip Saunders on trial this season? "Not at all," Dumars said. Dumars' support of Saunders, the man he hired to replace Larry Brown after the Pistons had won the championship in 2004 and made it back to the Finals in 2005, never waned last season. When Ben Wallace got into a snit with Saunders and refused to enter a game in Orlando last April, Dumars backed the coach. When Wallace and other players (Antonio McDyess, Tayshaun Prince) publicly complained during the playoffs, Dumars had Saunders' back, again. And during the summer, when he met individually with each player, Dumars made it clear that Saunders was the coach and that wasn't going to change. "Given the circumstances last year, Flip did a great job," Dumars said. "He came in here under some tough circumstances, man." That said, though, Dumars had some marching orders for Saunders going into his second year. He wanted him to shake up his coaching staff and bring in one or two proven NBA coaches. Saunders complied, hiring former head coaches Terry Porter and Dave Cowens. But even that led to suspicion that Saunders might be hiring his eventual replacement. "That wasn't it at all," Saunders said. "Those are guys that I knew and I brought it. Those aren't Joe's guys." Dumars had one other request. "He was pretty hands-off last year," Dumars said. "He didn't want to come in and disrupt what he felt was a good thing. My comment to him was, 'That was OK for one year. Now put your imprint on this. It's your team. Run this thing like you want to run it. Coach this team like you want to coach it.' "He's done that. He's been much more assertive this year. He is putting his imprint on this team." Saunders laid down new ground rules at the first team meeting. Team buses and planes were leaving at their scheduled times. No more waiting around for tardy players. Rasheed Wallace was the first to inadvertently test that when he showed up late for the bus to practice in Puerto Rico and had to find his own way to the gym. There would be no more debate about playing zone defense. It was going to be part of their defensive package. The pressing and trapping that had worked so well for him in Minnesota is also now part of the Pistons' daily game plan. And Saunders demanded more attention to detail in practice. "As coaches, you're getting the mentality that the way you practice, you play," he said. "You can pick up bad habits. As a coach, I can't accept, I won't accept that. That's not playing Pistons basketball the way we want. I think there comes a time to reinforce that."</div> Source
