Creating offense without Reggie Jackson

The Detroit Pistons will need to create offense in the early part of the season through schemes without dynamic point guard Reggie Jackson.

When the news came out that Reggie Jackson would miss at least the first month of the season with knee tendinitis, the immediate reaction from Detroit Pistons fans was predictable: how is the offense going to score? Jackson plays a critical role in Stan Van Gundy’s system, spending a large amount of the ball in his hands while exerting energy getting into the paint to get to the rim or find open shooters.

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Jackson’s replacement, Ish Smith, has the speed and quickness to replicate some of that, but Smith is an NBA journeyman for a reason. Smith has never been able to consistently produce enough offense to stay with one team for an extended period of time. Throw him into a situation where there are no other traditional, dynamic creators, and things get even worse. As a result, the Pistons will need to look for less traditional ways to create offense during Jackson’s absence.

One of the largest offensive issues for the Pistons last year was their inability to generate offense off screens, outside of the pick-and-roll. The Pistons ranked dead last in the league last year in scoring efficiency on off-screen possessions, posting a terrible 0.77 points per possession in those situations. That is largely a function of Van Gundy’s offensive scheme. Off-screen possessions are defined as a player coming off a screen moving away from the basket. Most of the screening in Van Gundy’s offense traditionally comes along the perimeter with a guard trying to get into the paint to collapse the defense and create open perimeter shots. Without Reggie Jackson, though, that scheme should and probably will change. And one of the easiest ways for the Pistons to bridge the gap is by running more off-the-ball screens to free up their talented forwards.

Marcus Morris, in particular, would benefit from a bit more down screen action. Morris is a good and willing passer and has a strong post game for his size that makes him a very real threat coming off down and side screens.

Against the Oklahoma City Thunder last year, Morris used one of those side screens to create an easy basket for Aron Baynes. Anthony Tolliver set a screen on Dion Waiters to free up Morris to receive the hand-off from Baynes. Baynes set a second screen on Waiters after handing it off and Steven Adams sagged off the screen to respect Morris’s quickness advantage. Waiters was also coming over the Baynes screen, leaving Nick Collison to defend both Tolliver and Baynes. Collison chose to respect Tolliver’s outside shooting and Morris was left with an easy pass to Baynes for the dunk.

The execution of this type of play requires some offensive versatility, and the Pistons have just that. Tobias Harris and Jon Leuer can serve as the pick-and-pop screener, while Andre Drummond and Baynes are both serious threats as the roll man. Presenting both of those threats makes these double screen sets very difficult to defend, and the sets don’t require a dynamic ball handler.

Later in the same game, the Pistons used another double screen of sorts to free up Morris. With Morris positioned near the baseline, both Baynes and Jackson came to set down screens, this time simultaneously. Morris faked toward the baseline and Kyle Singler bit on the fake, taking the long way to get to Morris on the perimeter. Singler couldn’t get to Morris nearly in time, and Morris nailed a wide open three-pointer.

The key to this play came at the beginning: both Baynes and Jackson positioned themselves perfectly to screen Singler. Had Singler taken the short path to Morris, he would have run right into a strong Baynes screen and Morris still would have had time to make the three. If the Thunder had switched, Baynes would have had a massive size advantage over Singler in the paint. This play, while a bit simpler, has several built-in counters depending on how it’s defended. Plays, like that, with a lot of different scoring options, would make things easier on offense for the Detroit Pistons when they’re without a dynamic ball handler.

While the Pistons last year tended to use Morris coming off screens, they found some success using Tobias Harris as a screener.

Against the Dallas Mavericks, the Pistons used Tobias Harris as one of the screeners in a double screen to get Drummond an easy shot in the paint. Harris actually initiated the offense with a dribble hand-off that served as a screen on Deron Williams to get Kentavious Caldwell-Pope some space along the perimeter. Drummond set a second screen on Williams and Zaza Pachulia showed to cut off Caldwell-Pope. When Caldwell-Pope recognized he had commanded two Mavericks defenders, he immediately swung the ball back to Harris, the original screener. Harris found Drummond for an easy shot in the paint.

This is a play that can be extremely successful for the Pistons during Jackson’s absence. Harris was open on the play, in large part, because the threat of Drummond rolling to the rim. Chandler Parsons had to respect that and take his chances with a Harris outside shot. Harris will be in that position several times a game, and he’ll often have multiple options: to pass, to shoot, or to drive. If he can make correct decisions consistently, this is an offensive set that could prove very valuable to the Pistons.

Against the Thunder, the Pistons used the same double screen to get Harris in space along the perimeter. Again, Harris is the first screener for Caldwell-Pope. This time, though, Drummond screened via a hand-off. The result was the same, however. The Thunder crashed Drummond’s roll to the paint leaving Harris wide open. Harris made another good decision here, taking the much slower Collison off the dribble. Harris didn’t finish the play, but he got easy hook shot and putback attempts off the double screen set.

This play began differently than the play against the Mavericks, but the concept was the same. The Pistons ran a double screen with Harris as the pick-and-pop option and Drummond as the roll man. The plays began different, but they ended up with the Pistons executing the same goal: get Tobias Harris the ball in space.

Double screens are becoming a staple in many NBA offenses, and it’s obvious why. If the defense doesn’t execute defending both screens perfectly, the offense has multiple ways to get high-percentage shots. The Detroit Pistons have both the positional versatility and the playmakers at the forward position necessary to execute double screens and get open looks. If Tobias Harris and Marcus Morris can make good decisions when they get open space, these offensive sets could result in the Pistons out-performing many fan’s offensive expectations in the first month or two of the season.