WATCH: Pistons introduce Dwane Casey as head coach

DETROIT (WJBK/AP) - Dwane Casey looks at the roster of the Detroit Pistons and sees a core of players capable of a lot more than the team accomplished last season.

"Our time is now," Casey said.

The Pistons introduced Casey as their new coach Wednesday, over a week after hiring him to replace Stan Van Gundy. Casey inherits a team built around Blake Griffin, Andre Drummond and Reggie Jackson, but the roster has little flexibility and the team gave up its first-round draft pick this year to acquire Griffin.

In other words, Detroit's performance in 2018-19 may depend largely on what Casey can get out of a group that fell short under Van Gundy.

"I'm telling the guys now: We're not developing, we're not two or three years away," Casey said. "We want to win right now."

Casey took the Detroit job after being fired by the Toronto Raptors. He's a finalist for NBA coach of the year after leading the Raptors to a team-record 59 wins this past season, but he lost his job after Toronto was swept in the playoffs by Cleveland.

"I can hold my head high for what we built in Toronto," Casey said. "That's part of the journey. This is a new chapter."

The Pistons made the playoffs only once in four seasons under Van Gundy, who was also president of basketball operations. Detroit hired Casey to replace Van Gundy as coach, but it's still unclear what the front office will look like going forward. Ed Stefanski was brought in as a senior executive reporting to owner Tom Gores. His job was to help with both the coaching search and the effort to reshape the team's basketball operations.

"We're going through a process here. We're thinking about, do we want to go a GM route? Do we want to get some younger guys in there and I can mentor them kind of thing? It's fluid," Stefanski said. "I'm going to be very influential in the front office."

The Pistons went 39-43 last season. They got off to a promising start before Jackson, their point guard, went down with an injury in late December. About a month later, Detroit acquired Griffin in a blockbuster trade, giving up the first-round pick and taking on the star forward's big contract. That wasn't enough to push the team into the postseason, and it seems unlikely the Pistons will be able to make any major changes to their roster in the short term.

"I don't see us making a huge deal right now," Stefanski said.

If the personnel stays mostly the same, the Pistons will have to hope for better health - and Casey will have to look for areas for improvement. The Pistons were fifth in the league in 3-point percentage last season, but they were only 16th in attempts from beyond the arc.

"We have to get up more 3s. We've got to play more of an analytical game," Casey said. "Tom teases me all the time about being a modern man. No, it's about wanting to win, more than anything else, and you have to adapt."

NOTES: Gores just finished his seventh season as owner. He was asked how long he is committed to the team. "Forever," he responded. "This is not an equity deal." ... Stefanski talked a bit about Michigan coach John Beilein, who emerged as a candidate for the Pistons' job but is remaining with the Wolverines . "Coach Beilein is an offensive genius in my mind," Stefanski said. "I was mesmerized, because I'm a basketball guy, how good he is on the offensive end. ... He has a pretty good job at Michigan with, what he's telling me, a very good team coming back."

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The Detroit Pistons hired Dwane Casey as head coach last week replacing Stan Van Gundy.

Casey, 61, was fired by the Toronto Raptors after leading the Raptors to the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference this past season, along with the second-best record in the league. He coached in the All-Star game and was named as the coach-of-the-year selection by the National Basketball Coaches Association. The award is voted on only by the league's head coaches.

“Dwane is one of the most successful and highly respected coaches in our league,” said Pistons Owner Tom Gores in press release.  “He’s a great communicator and a leader who will connect with our players and accelerate their growth. Having spent many hours with Dwane over the last few weeks, I’m confident he is the right person to get us to the next level.

“In our meetings he displayed great insight into what this roster can accomplish, and great passion about our city and the team’s role in bringing people together. He’s an outstanding man with impressive character. He embodies our culture and will be a great representative for our franchise.”

Casey has been a head coach for 8 years, most recently with the Toronto Raptors. He was fired May 11 from the job after 6 years in Toronto.

All told, he has 373-307 record.

“I am excited and honored to join the Detroit Pistons, a franchise with a championship history and a roster that is ready to win now,” Casey said in press release.  “Tom really won me over with his vision for the team and the city. He clearly wants to deliver for the fans in Detroit and I believe in the strength of his leadership to do so.

“I’m confident that this team has the pieces in place to compete at a very high level. There is a lot of talent, a solid core and some exciting young players eager to get better. We’re getting to work right away on the things that will make us all successful.”

The Kentucky alum led the Raptors to a franchise-record 59 wins this year as Toronto earned the top seed in the Eastern Conference for the first time. He posted a 320-238 record in seven seasons north of the border and is the franchise's winningest coach.

"I hope coach Casey gets coach of the year, because he deserves it," Raptors President Masai Ujiri said when firing Casey. "I saw everything he did here. I saw the job he did this year. He deserves it."

The Cavaliers have ousted the Raptors from the playoffs three years in a row including sweeping them the past the two seasons.

The Indianapolis native started his NBA coaching career with Seattle in 1994 and was head coach of the Timberwolves from 2005-2007 posting a 53-69 record.  After being fired by Minnesota, Casey became an assistant for the Mavericks before being hired by Toronto in 2011.

The Pistons went 39-43 this season, missing the playoffs for the third time in four years under Stan Van Gundy. They've made the postseason just once in the past nine seasons, and even a blockbuster trade for Blake Griffin wasn't enough to salvage 2017-18. 

The Pistons went 152-176 over the past four seasons under Van Gundy, and his personnel decisions have come under more criticism than his coaching. Detroit hasn't been able to make the most of its draft position, spending first-round picks on Stanley Johnson, Henry Ellenson and Luke Kennard.

This past season, Kennard shot over 40 percent from 3-point range, but he was taken one spot ahead of Donovan Mitchell in last year's draft. Mitchell has blossomed into a Rookie of the Year candidate for Utah.

The trade for Griffin was a bold one for the Pistons and left them with limited flexibility. Not only did the team take on Griffin's big contract, but Detroit also sent a protected first-round draft pick to the Los Angeles Clippers in the deal.

Van Gundy was also president of basketball operations and the Pistons are still looking for a replacement for president and for general manager after not retaining Jeff Bower earlier this month.

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