Pistons video playbook: Week 3

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

After a disappointing loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday, the Detroit Pistons finished strong, beating the Milwaukee Bucks and Sacramento Kings to finish with a winning record in their third consecutive week to begin the season.

The Pistons’ success continues to be largely a product of their improved offense, which ranks tied for tenth (with the Blazers) in the league in offensive rating going into Sunday’s games.  And, although the incredibly impressive free throw shooting performance from Andre Drummond against the Bucks will get all of the headlines, Detroit’s efficient start continues to rely on sets involving Avery Bradley.

The Return of the Off Screen Curl

During their incredible run in the mid-2000s, the Pistons relied heavily on off-ball screens for Richard Hamilton to generate offense.  In recent years, Detroit has used very little of that action, ranking among the bottom five in the league the past two years in off-screen possessions as a percentage of overall offense.  This year, the Pistons rank towards the middle of the pack in that play type, albeit on not-great efficiency thus far.

Part of the reason for the lower efficiency so far is Avery Bradley’s poor shooting early in the year.  Bradley has started to find his shooting touch, and he was very successful filling the Richard Hamilton role this past week.

Bradley saw a great amount of success on off-screen possessions in Saturday’s win against the Kings.  In the first quarter, Reggie Jackson and Tobias Harris set dual screens for Bradley, causing his defender to go underneath, thereby creating natural space for Bradley’s jump shot.  The double screen action gave Bradley ample time to gather and get his feet set, and he nailed a long jumper as a result.

A few minutes later, Harris was the sole screener for Bradley on a play that occurred further away from the paint. Bradley, knowing that he only had one screen and seeing that his defender went over the screen, gathered and shot the ball more quickly, this time hitting a three pointer. As Bradley continues to extend his range on this action, opposing defenses will follow by extending out further and trying to deny him the ball.

The Kings defense did, in fact, try to extend out further on an off-ball screen in the third quarter. Anthony Tolliver set a side screen for Bradley and Bradley’s defender got too high on the floor trying to deny the perimeter pass. Drummond and Bradley both recognized this and Drummond hit Bradley perfectly in-stride for an easy layup. The Pistons continue to do a great job recognizing defenses over-playing their sets involving Bradley, and being prepared to counter aggressive defense, as we discussed last week.

Against the Bucks, Detroit brought Bradley up from the baseline, similar to what they used to do with Richard Hamilton. Eric Moreland positioned himself nicely after making a pass to force Bradley’s defender wide, and Bradley had plenty of space to knock down another long jump shot off a screen.

These long two-pointers aren’t always ideal, but as long as they’re open and coming as the result of good execution, they have plenty of value. Most importantly, the Pistons are able to run plenty of counters to these very straight forward sets, and that will be something to watch in the coming weeks.

The Tolliver Effect

Anthony Tolliver’s return to Detroit has been a huge success through the first three weeks of the season.  In week two, Tolliver was called upon to slow down Blake Griffin and Kristaps Porzingis, and he did an admirable job in that role.  Against the Bucks, Tolliver did the same against Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Antetokounmpo has played at an MVP-caliber level during the beginning of this season.  Though he’s not shooting many three-pointers, he’s been able to consistently get near the rim and finish at an incredibly high rate.  Through nine games, he has shot 56 percent of his shots within eight feet of the rim and made 76 percent of those attempts.

On Friday against the Pistons, Antetokounmpo shot only nine of his 27 attempts (33 percent) within eight feet of the basket.  On several occasions, he was muscled away from his comfort zone as a result of Tolliver’s hard work defensively.

Tolliver’s defense has been outstanding, but he also has plenty of value on the offensive end of the floor. He hasn’t shot particularly well this year so far, making only 31 percent of his three-point attempts, but the fact that he’s a willing shooter and a threat from behind the arc provides value in and of itself.

Avery Bradley’s three-pointer in the first quarter in Milwaukee came off a nice pass extra pass from Ish Smith, but Tolliver provides the spacing in the corner that makes this work. Tolliver being a threat to make a corner three causes Khris Middleton to stay home and not close out hard on Bradley, giving him extra space to make the shot. If this were Jon Leuer in the corner, Middleton likely would have attacked Bradley and forced a three-point attempt by a much worse shooter. Tolliver’s mere presence in the corner does not allow that to happen.

Next: Is Anthony Tolliver the key to the Pistons defense?

In the fourth quarter against the Kings, Bradley hits the game-clinching three which is again made possible by Tolliver. Tolliver catches the ball in semi-transition and Bradley’s defender has to leave him to prevent a wide open attempt. Tolliver recognizes that Bradley has been left alone in the corner and makes the extra pass to effectively end the game.