Eastern Notes: Pistons, Smith, Ellington

Owner Tom Gores has no problem paying the luxury tax should the Pistons need to cross the apron to keep their young core together, as he tells Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press.

“Look, if we weren’t building a core, there’s really no point in paying the luxury tax,” Gores said. “Because we are building a core, would I do it? Yeah, absolutely. This is a tremendous team. If you go down the line, player by player, and especially our young folks, these are real players…So you say go into the luxury tax for nothing, then that would be silly because then we’re putting the franchise behind. But given that we have such a good core, if that’s what it took, and we feel we’ve made such progress this year, I wouldn’t hesitate to do it because we want to keep getting better.”

Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:

  • Gores believes executive/coach Stan Van Gundy has  done an excellent job for the Pistons‘ front office because of his communication skills, as he tells Ellis in the same piece. “I’ve seen him be a president and a coach, but also a leader and an executive that really understands how to run a business. He’s running the business of basketball,” Gores said. “I’ve heard people say is he better GM than he was a coach.”
  • The Celtics could have made an offer to J.R. Smith this offseason, but that door closed when the team used most of its remaining cap space to re-sign Tyler Zeller, Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe writes.
  • Wayne Ellington could end up being more of a 3-point specialist than he expected when he signed with the Heat this offseason, Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel speculates. Winderman believes earmarking minutes for Josh Richardson on the wing will be a priority for the franchise due to his upside. That, along with the signing of Dion Waiters, may leave Ellington on the bench for the majority of games.
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