The Detroit Pistons’ Olympic Blueprint

What can an up-and-coming team like the Detroit Pistons learn from watching the USA fight their way to another gold medal?

When the USA men’s Olympic team won the gold medal on Sunday no one was surprised. They were expected to win, although their defense played a larger role than expected, they started five all-stars and they had seven more studs on the bench. All twelve of the players would start on any of the 30 NBA teams.

Throughout the Olympic games, team USA had a hard time finding an offensive rhythm. Kyrie Irving was stuck between being a scorer and a distributor. Klay Thompson was struggling to find a consistent shooting rhythm. Carmelo Anthony lost his shooting touch after he torched Australia for 31 points. DeMarcus Cousins struggled to stay out of foul trouble or establish himself as an offensive threat. Even Kevin Durant had shooting woes before he went off in the gold medal game against Serbia.

So how did the USA team stave off upset attempts?

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In several games, including the closest scares (France and Serbia), the second unit came off the bench and created chaos on defense. Their defense allowed them to generate offensive tempo by producing run-outs after bad shots and forcing turnovers.

At times, the defensive combination of Jimmy Butler, Paul George, Kyle Lowry, DeMar DeRozan, and DeAndre Jordan brought so much energy off of the bench that it felt like the first unit waited for them to put their defensive imprint on the game. Once the second unit generated tempo, the first unit fed off of the energy and were then able to get things going offensively and pulled away.

The basic blueprint of basketball success does not necessarily depend on a collection of all-stars like the Olympic team. Instead, it depends on each player buying into his role and giving his max effort when he is on the floor.

The Pistons second unit should have watched the Olympic games and observed the possibility of controlling a game much like Team USA did. If guys like Jimmy Butler, Paul George, Kyle Lowry and other 20 point-per game scorers can swallow their offensive ego and embrace the mentality of a defensive warrior, then there is no reason Stanley Johnson, Reggie Bullock, and Ish Smith cannot put forth that same effort.

Stan Van Gundy has publicly stated that he expects internal growth from each player on the Pistons’ roster. The Pistons have guys coming into the primes of their careers. If the Bad Boy and Going To Work eras taught us anything – it is that our championship teams depend on second units that embrace their defensive roles.

As far as starters go, the Pistons have a very nice collection of skills. The question mark for the team will be whether or not they will keep leads, lose leads, or extend leads when the second unit comes off the bench.

Likewise, there is a lot to like with the Pistons projected second unit consisting of Ish Smith, Stanley Johnson, Reggie Bullock, Henry Ellenson, and Aron Baynes. But each one of those players possesses different offensive question marks.

Can Ish Smith knock down enough jumpers so defenses have to play him straight up without sagging off?

Will Stanley Johnson find a consistent release point on his long-range shots?

Will Henry Ellenson’s offensive game be polished enough to garner NBA minutes despite his defensive liabilities?

Was Reggie Bullock a nice late season story or a quality NBA ball player?

Can Boban Marjanovic or Aron Baynes provide any offensive threats?

There are a ton of offensive questions with the second unit. Making it all the more important, that they consistently disrupt games defensively. If the bench can create havoc on defense, they may be able to cover-up offensive issues in the half-court.

The Pistons may be in a better position than most within their conference when it comes to projected bench production.

Once again, if the Olympic team can serve as any kind of blueprint for future success, it would be important for the Pistons’ second unit to realize that defensive travels.

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No matter how hot or cold one is offensively, a strong defensive unit can get themselves going by playing stellar defense, forcing turnovers, forcing late shots that lead to run-outs, and limiting offensive rebounds. Doing so will  make the opponents exert more energy on defense.