Second Look: Detroit Pistons vs. Washington Wizards

The Pistons season is over, but there is still plenty to be gleaned from the games that took place at the end of the season, let’s start in with their victory over the Washington Wizards.

So I’m back at it. I’ve got quite a few games in the back-log to work through so let’s do that.

Why are you doing this Wizards game? It’s out of order where you left off.

Because for some reason I had already made clips of this one for some reason. Don’t worry, I will go back and at least get that Rockets game for the Kennard glory, we’ve got all offseason. Also, given that the season is now over for the Pistons these will have more focus on what can carry into next season than they did when I was doing them on time.

So where to start? I don’t even remember this game.

The Pistons won 103-92. This was the first game that Blake Griffin missed down the stretch where he would not return. The Pistons were led by a monster 20-20 game from Andre Drummond.

So without Griffin in the game, what can be gleaned for next year?

Best thing from this game was that the Reggie Jackson and Andre Drummond pick and roll came out to play in full force. The Pistons got back to their roots with a simplified offense and the Wizards really didn’t have much of an answer for it. Given that we were largely robbed of seeing this all season, let’s have a look at one of the most effective picks and roll partners in the world. Start off with two examples and the differences in how it is defended.

On both plays, Drummond sets a big screen to free Jackson. In the first play, Gortat steps up to keep Jackson from having a free lane to the hoop, which gives Jackson an easy flip to Drummond for a dunk.

In the second play, Gortat sticks back to hang with Drummond which gives Jackson space to get off one of his patented, sort of a floater, sort of a hook, shot. When broken down to the simplest terms, the above two plays are why the Jackson/Drummond pick and roll is so effective. It is often truthfully a pick your poison preposition for the defense.

What makes Drummond so dangerous on those?

Well, he is a very large human who can jump very high. If you give him space at the hoop all that is needed is a good pass and Drummond will be the only guy who can reach it. So on that first play above, the reality is that the Wizards blew the coverage so badly that you can complete that play with just about anyone going to the hoop. Luke Kennard could’ve been the roll man and he’d have space to catch and lay it up.

Where Drummond really shines is when there is some congestion at the hoop and in the lane. Take the following two plays.

On that first play, it is neither an easy pass or an easy finish. Kelly Oubre crashes down to try and stop the roll from Drummond but is too late and doesn’t even try to contest in the end.

It should be noted, Kelly Oubre is no slouch of an athlete and brash confidence is one of the defining features of his game. He took one look at Drummond flying through the air and decided he wanted none of it.

On the second play, Jackson is able to be corralled, but he is able to just flip it up to Drummond who is able to quickly collect the ball and put it in before Morris can recover. The secret to Drummond’s all-time rebounding is that his jumping is explosive, which is to say that when he jumps, he reaches his peak very quickly. That makes it harder for guys to keep up with him even if they can reach the same heights.

Also on that second play, that is a play that Ish Smith cannot make and shows the value of Jackson. Jackson’s height allows him to see that pass, and his absurd wing-span allow him to successfully complete it. The number of alley-oops Drummond gets go way down with Ish Smith, and that is why.

On top of his great leaping ability, a big improvement for Drummond this year is his ability to put it on the floor and finish through traffic by himself.

And Drummond is also a heads-up passer out of the pick and roll.

Look at that above play again for a second, now imagine that it isn’t Anthony Tolliver standing there, instead it is Blake Griffin. Now imagine that is a lob and a dunk. These are happy things to think about for next year, especially since the Pistons can run that with either big man in either place.

Lastly, the attention that is drawn by the pick and rolls can create openings for other players to take advantage of.

Otto Porter gets caught ball-watching and Stanley Johnson smartly slips behind him to the hoop for an easy basket.

Speaking of Reggie Jackson, how did his defense look?

Obviously, he was not exactly guarding a titan in this game, but he largely picked up where he left off earlier in the year which is great. His conditioning was not great (which was to be expected) but he mostly tried, didn’t give up on plays, and leveraged his length to be a nuisance.

Like, that isn’t anything huge, but he sticks with the play. Considering how he looked on defense following his injury last year this is a great sign.

Ellenson got some time in this game right?

Yes, he did. We are going to spend some serious time looking at him in these games that Griffin missed. Let’s start with the defense.

So look at those two plays. A lot of people talk about Ellenson’s defensive issues like they stem totally from his lack of mobility and because he’s a white guy who can shoot so he can’t be that good. Those things are not untrue, but his bigger issue remains smarts.

On that first play, he goes kind of into the paint and then runs out of bounds for reasons that are not abundantly clear. In the second play, he goes way further out than he has any need too and falls behind the play.

Here is the thing, Ellenson is obviously never going to be a high-level defender, but he isn’t a total stiff, he has some mobility and is very large human. Plays like those are where he gets in trouble because he just gets really far out of position. All of the things Luke Kennard does to make himself a passable defender are things that Ellenson does not do.

On the good side, Ellenson finished the season pretty strong on offense and that is where his value is going to be coming from no matter what. One area where he is undisputably already valuable is in transition.

Ellenson’s combination of size, speed, hands, and ball-handling makes him a terror in the open court. Toss in that he’s actually a pretty high-level rebounder and it makes him even more useful.

I mean, look at that. He goes up for a contested rebound, then wastes no time taking off. He doesn’t even look for Ish Smith before speeding away, then he makes a really nice pass to Drummond in the paint. There are not a lot of guys his size who can do that.

Even when he doesn’t have the ball his hustle and hands are valuable.

Admittedly there are more guys his size who can do that, but its still good. In the open floor, Ellenson is a beast, and a theoretical bench mob featuring Ish Smith, Stanley Johnson, Ellenson, and Jon Leuer (with anyone else at the other wing spot) has potential to be one of the most lethal transition units in the NBA.

In the half-court, the results are a bit more mixed for Ellenson. One of his problems is that there are some looks that he misses that he just shouldn’t.

He does everything right, see’s an opening to charge into the paint and get the ball inside the restricted area with only the much smaller Oubre guarding him. But he just misses that bunny. This is especially confusing because Ellenson clearly has pretty decent touch with the ball, perhaps it is just a small-sample-size thing but that is a look he has to convert.

One thing that is a big question mark is where his three-point shot will end up long term. On his career, he’s shooting just 31.6% from deep and 33.3% this year, but it is such a tiny sample-size that you can’t really take anything from it. At the end of the season when he was in the rotation (starting with this game) he shot 40% from deep, in the G-League he has shot 33.6% in his career. Basically, this is to say that he can shoot a little, but the sample-size simply isn’t there.

That said, if he can hit enough of them he has the potential to be a terror from beyond the arc.

The second angle really captures this. Jodie Meeks is right on him when he shoots it, but Ellenson is so tall with such a high and quick release that it simply doesn’t matter. Being able to simply shoot over defenders is hugely valuable, it has secretly been the secret to why J.R. Smith has always been such a valuable shooter, and if Ellenson can connect on enough shots teams will go through great pains to stick bigger guys with him.

Keep a note on Ellenson though because we will be talking plenty about him. Over the next few weeks.

Luke Kennard started getting more minutes too right?

Not actually in this game but I do have clips to show the full Kennard experience and why he is already very good and going to be even better.

Luke has work to do in learning how to properly finish inside, but that doesn’t stop him from going and when he does manage to get some separation he can finish.

He’s also a super heady passer with a great vision for cutters and shooters, he occasionally gets too brave but I’d rather him stray on the side of over-aggressive.

When Kennard manages to see picks coming and not get steamrolled by them (which actually happens in the coming clip and is a problem for literally every rookie ever) he sticks with plays, has quick hands, moves his feet, and really competes.

He gets a lot of help from the wrecking ball that we call Andre Drummond, but that is a nice defensive sequence for Kennard after getting destroyed by a pick to start the play. He competes to front Gortat, switches back out seamlessly, and sticks with Beal before eventually swatting the ball away.

Lastly, of course, Luke Kennard can do this.

Luke Kennard is a killer.

Any little things?

Reggie Bullock continued to improve his patience and decision making when handling the ball out of the pick and roll or dribble hand-offs.

Also, as much as I enjoy Ish Smith’s newfound three-point shooting. Lets maybe not do pull up threes with plenty of time on the shot clock.

Anything fun?

Stanley Johnson is very strong and it is so funny when he just plows over people.

I am also 100% here for the Andre Drummond hop-steps.

Live your best life, big fella.

That’s all for this one. I may go back and pick up with the Suns game which happened directly after the Kings game which was the last post.