<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">AUBURN HILLS -- It's Thursday, four days before training camp opens. Coach Flip Saunders is relaxed, sitting in his office. A group of players, mostly non-roster guys, are running drills on the court. Saunders is discussing the upcoming season when the subject of the Pistons putting an emphasis on zone defense comes up. "We are going to play more zone," he said, his tone immediately stern, unwavering. "We have to get out of this mind-set where" His voice trails off, but you know what he's not saying. The Pistons have to shed that old, macho, man-to-man-or-bust mentality. The way NBA games are officiated now makes it nearly impossible to deploy the physical, straight-up man-to-man defense the Pistons played under Larry Brown in the 2004 championship season. And the man whose unique abilities allowed that style of defense to flourish -- four-time defensive player of the year, Ben Wallace -- is gone. "You play what's effective," Saunders said. "I think we can be extremely good playing zone defense. But we have to commit to it. And committing to it will not be up for discussion." That right there might be one of the primary differences with the post-Ben Wallace Pistons. Not that they will play more zone, but that Saunders and the staff are going to lead with a firmer hand. "We are going to be more demanding," Saunders said, "and I think the players are going to be more demanding of themselves." Saunders won't all of a sudden become a my-way-or-the-highway tyrant. You won't see him yank power forward Rasheed Wallace off the floor by the scruff of his jersey or anything like that. But Saunders isn't going to be as accommodating to the Pistons' old ways as he might have been last season, his first with the team. Taking over a team that had been to the NBA Finals the two previous seasons, he walked a tightrope between implementing his own structure without deconstructing what had been successful. The tightrope snapped late in the season. Some players got too lax. Some took his kindness for weakness. Some started showing up late for team flights and team busses. There were public criticisms of Saunders voiced by players (Ben Wallace and power forward Antonio McDyess, most notably). It wasn't pretty. President Joe Dumars addressed the issue with the players first, then he addressed it with Saunders. "I never like to see things aired out in the media," Dumars said. "I didn't approve of that. But I think those who have been around us know that wasn't the first time that guys complained. We handled it." Dumars made it clear to the players that the coach was secure, that Saunders had his full support. He made it clear that the busses and airplanes will leave when they are scheduled to leave. If the players are tardy, they will have to make their own arrangements. "My message to the guys was, don't make any excuses," Dumars said. "We didn't get it done last year, and I wanted everybody to come back this year just ready to get it done." Dumars told Saunders that he had to strengthen his coaching staff. Dumars told him he wanted to hire a couple of proven coaches, guys, as Dumars put it, "that the (players) would respect the first day they walked in here."</div> Source
