Pistons Playbook: Week 2

Each week, we look at some of the important plays, schemes, and sets that have been successes and failures for the Detroit Pistons.

Week two of the 2017-18 regular season for the Detroit Pistons began with a whimper, but ended with a bang.  After a disappointing loss to the Philadelphia 76ers last Monday, the Pistons finished the week strong – beating three future Western Conference playoff teams in the Minnesota Timberwolves, Los Angeles Clippers and Golden State Warriors.

The Baseline Cut

Throughout the first week of the season, it quickly became evident that the Andre Drummond dribble hand-offs to Avery Bradley were going to be an important part of initiating the offense.  In week two, the Pistons introduced a second important utilization of Bradley by having him run the baseline in different sets.  Because this is a fairly new element for Detroit, there were mixed results over the past week.

In the second quarter against the Timberwolves, Bradley caught Andrew Wiggins watching the ball and slipped past him along the baseline.   Henry Ellenson hit Bradley with a nice bounce pass.  Although Bradley’s shot got blocked at the rim, this was a really nice read by both Ellenson and Bradley.  Cuts like these help keep secondary defenders at bay, which promotes better spacing.

Several possessions before the successful Ellenson pass, Andre Drummond misread the baseline cut a bit.  Drummond and Bradley faked the dribble hand-off that has become a staple of the Pistons offense early in the season to attempt a back door cut.  Bradley, however, correctly read that Wiggins was defending against the back cut and moved back towards the perimeter.

This is a read that will come, in time, for Drummond.  He’s rarely been asked to make this type of read or pass thus far in his career, and he certainly doesn’t have the chemistry with Bradley to do it successfully without some practice.  But, the simple fact that he’s willing and able to make this pass is extremely encouraging.  It’s great counter action when teams over play on the dribble hand-off, and should allow for some cleaner hand-offs to Bradley in the future.

Against the Clippers, the Pistons showed terrific awareness in recognizing that the Clippers had over played a down screen.  Bradley’s defender got very high to get over Jon Leuer‘s screen so Leuer simply stepped up towards Ish Smith to make himself available for an easy pass.  Bradley immediately cut along the baseline and Leuer hit him for an easy dunk.

This is a textbook counter play for when teams are over playing down screens, and the Pistons have clearly planned for that type of aggressive defense.

Avery Bradley’s influence has spread throughout the team.  Where the Pistons generally stood still last year when they didn’t have the ball, they’ve been in constant motion off the ball through the first two weeks.

Here against Minnesota, Leuer catches Karl-Anthony Towns watching the ball and cuts along the baseline.  Jamal Crawford leaves Langston Galloway to defend Leuer at the rim and Leuer and Galloway both make the extra pass to get Tobias Harris a wide open, in-rhythm three point look.  This sort of off-ball movement has led to much improved ball movement for the Pistons this year.

Defending the Pick-and-Roll

Last season, the Pistons ranked below-average in terms of defending the pick-and-roll.  Undoubtedly one of the most significant reasons for that was the inability of Andre Drummond to provide consistent rim protection.  At this stage in his career, Drummond may never be a very good rim protector, despite his athletic abilities.  This year, the Detroit Pistons have decided to take a different approach by simply being more aggressive in preventing opponents from getting into the paint altogether.

Against Minnesota, Avery Bradley does a perfect job “icing” the Wiggins-Towns pick-and-roll by fighting over the Towns screen attempt.  Bradley’s defense here completely disrupts Minnesota’s rhythm and it results in a poor late shot clock shot attempt by Shabazz Muhammad.

On a Crawford-Towns pick-and-roll possession in the second quarter, Ish Smith fights over the Towns screen while Drummond cuts off Crawford’s lane to the paint.  Once Crawford commits to the pass, Drummond pokes the ball away from Towns, leading to a transition dunk for Tobias Harris.

This type of pick-and-roll defense is where Drummond can and should excel.  It requires only basic positioning to cut off the ball handler initially.  From there, he can use his quick hands, perhaps his best defensive asset, to create turnovers and easy points for the Detroit Pistons in transition.

While Drummond sagged off on the Crawford-Towns pick-and-roll, he has generally been more aggressive in attacking screens, like he did against Stephen Curry here.  Drummond’s blitzing of the screen caused Curry to pick up his dribble and Avery Bradley jumped Curry’s outlet – Draymond Green as the roll man.

Drummond blitzing the pick-and-roll on this critical possession in the final minute of the Warriors game ended up with a game winning basket the other way.

Next: What's been the biggest surprise for the Pistons?

Drummond again blitzes Curry and cuts off his driving lane, while not allowing him space to get off a clean look from three.  Bradley once again aggressively attacks Curry’s outlet, this time Klay Thompson, and the steal results in two points the other way which effectively ended the game.