Detroit Pistons: Second Look: Detroit Pistons at Phoenix Suns

Today, we look at the Detroit Pistons romping victory over the Suns in Reggie Jackson‘s return.

With SVG fired will the focus of these change a bit?

Yeah, they will. There will be a bit of extra focus on things that the new coach and regime should perhaps look to change and which things they should look to keep the same.

Remind me about this game.

It was the triumphant return of Reggie Jackson in those precious few games between when he came back and when Blake Griffin got hurt.

The Pistons played a bit sloppy early in the game and the Suns kind of stuck around. In the third quarter, the Pistons took off and pretty much put it away.

Griffin would finish with 26 points, nine rebounds, and ten assists to lead the Pistons. Luke Kennard also chipped in with 16 points off the bench.

The Suns were without Devin Booker so their offense was not pretty. Alex Len scored 19 point and caused some very foolish people to say they would rather have Len than Andre Drummond. Josh Jackson also had a decent outing for the Suns with 15 points and 11 rebounds.

So where do we start?

With the opening possession of the game.

There are a few things here. First off, it is very cool to see Blake Griffin dunk the ball.

Second off, please look at the defensive effort the Suns gave here. If you are thinking to yourself, “I don’t see any defensive effort”, you are exactly right. The Suns got the first overall pick as a reward recently.

Any observations in this game come with a strong indicator that the Suns were tanking to a comical level. Just to hammer home this point, look at this three-pointer by Reggie Bullock:

The fact that Reggie Bullock can do that is awesome. Not a lot of guys are deadly shooters to his degree. The reality is that Bullock’s abilities were not a secret by this point and the Suns still just kind of decided to not play defense. Anyways, onto the rest of it.

How did Reggie Jackson do?

Not great but he only played 15 minutes. Once again, this was his first game back. There is one play to highlight though:

Once again, this is not exactly stellar defense from the Suns. However, this is a play that Jackson can make that Ish Smith simply doesn’t.

First, Jackson cuts into the paint and actually draws two defenders since Jackson can actually shoot. The area the defense picks him up in is the floater area where Jackson is especially deadly.

After getting picked up, Jackson stops and makes the defense commit to him outside of the paint, and uses his absurd wing-span to wrap a pass around Alex Len to a rolling Drummond who would miss a bunny. (Drummond had a rough outing in this one.)

Ish Smith is not drawing that attention from the defense in the first place. Even if he does, he lacks the patience and vision to get that pass. Smith would likely continue to charge the hoop which would clog the lane for Drummond. The fact that Jackson stopped just outside the paint is what gave Drummond such a wide open look.

Even if Smith were to make that play as well, he does not have the vision that Jackson does (partially because he is so much shorter) to see Drummond there regardless. Jackson is a flawed player, and his future with the team is likely in some question with Van Gundy gone. Don’t forget that he is downright brilliant in the pick and roll.

You said Luke Kennard had a good night?

Yeah, he did. 16 points on 11 shots with three assists and six rebounds in 24 minutes of work. One of those three assists was an absolute beauty.

That is downright filthy. It also shows what a high IQ player Kennard is. First off, I like that it started with a rebound. Kennard being a plus rebounder for his position was one of my favorite goofy developments of the season.

As he crosses half-court, he feels Moreland behind him and slyly bends away from the middle of the floor. The defense has to respect his shot so it follows. Pretending to tell Anthony Tolliver to set a screen is a nice touch as well.

Then he spins around and rifles an accurate pass to the cutting Moreland with his off-hand. Kennard still has not fully shaken the bad habit of getting too fancy with his passes at times. Nonetheless, he is still a really smart passer.

Plays like this are why it is silly to suggest Kennard is just a shooter. Guys like Kyle Korver or J.J. Reddick are not making this play even now. Kennard is doing it in his rookie season.

Even though this isn’t specific to this game, here is another fun thing about Kennard:

On the surface, there is entirely nothing remarkable about that play. Kennard has the ball the entire time. It is essentially the same tired dribble hand-offs for a long two set that was worn out by Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Avery Bradley.

Luke Kennard is a way better shooter than those guys. In fact, Kennard is a way better shooter, especially from that range, than almost anyone is. On long two’s (16 feet to three-point line), Kennard shot 50 percent this past year. That’s a downright elite number.

For reference, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope shot 35.2% from the same range this past year. Caldwell-Pope’s career-best from that distance was 41.3% in his last year with the Pistons.

You certainly know about long two’s being the worst outcome for your offense. Most defenses will go out of their way to try and force as many of those shots as they can. Kennard is so good at it though that he turns the math around a bit and can punish defenses in an area they are typically trying to surrender. It’s a fun wrinkle that the new coach would do well to take full advantage of.

Lastly, let’s go back to Kennard passing and use it as a segue way into Stanley Johnson:

It doesn’t end up coming to fruition as Johnson tries to fit his pass into a tight window at the end. This is a great sequence from both Kennard and Johnson. If both guys remain on the team next year, the Pistons would do well to play them together a lot.

First off, they simply provide a nice yin and yang on the wing. Kennard is the super polished, finesse sniper. Johnson is all brute force. They also like to be on the floor together and Johnson talked about it this past season.

Kennard and Johnson occupy opposite sides of the floor so they work well together that way.

The last thing that makes them fun is what is on display in the above play. Both guys are whip-smart, offensive players. Kennard holds the ball just long enough to get Josh Jackson to inch over, which then gives Stanley Johnson room.

Johnson then wastes no time in attacking the basket, having already started his move before even getting the ball. Even though it doesn’t work out on this possession, there is a ton of value in having two guys who think that fast on the floor and I’d love to see what these two could potentially do in units built around them.

What about Johnson the rest of the game?

Given the removal of Van Gundy, Johnson’s future with the Pistons is a big question mark. Van Gundy and his staff clearly still believed in Johnson. There are plenty of people around the league who still do.

The problem is that there are also a lot of people who do not believe in him. If the new regime is not a fan, then Johnson is very likely to be traded.

Regardless of what team he plays for, next season will be a big year for Johnson. He has continued to show flashes of the potential that made him so highly touted heading into the draft. However, you only get so long before teams stop caring about the potential you once showed.

On offense, the Pistons will need him to focus more on being in attack mode. The previous clip is a good example. When he first gets the pass from Kennard and attacks he is dangerous. Once he dribbles to the outside and slows down he becomes far less threatening.

Johnson and the new coaching staff will have to focus on getting more plays like this:

Getting him an advantage to get to the hoop without having to slow down or make a move. Get the ball and go.

Johnson also had this hilarious steal:

That is a grown man steal right there.

Blake Griffin had a big game?

Yes, he did. The Suns really had no answer at all for Griffin, who at times clowned them.

It should be noted that Blake Griffin is very good at basketball. This is going to be getting into the larger point about what the new coaching staff should do with the offense.

Even though Griffin hit that shot, possessions like that are an example of what the Pistons want to avoid. The regularity of those possessions were one of the biggest flaws of Van Gundy.

Griffin spends the entire possession posting up far away from the hoop. The Pistons run a couple of guys around a little but not in any threatening way.

Eventually, everyone stands and watches while Griffin tries to do something and the Suns totally ignore two of the Pistons players.

Once again, Griffin is so good that you can have a functioning offense playing like this.

This is basically the same thing. Griffin gets the ball and posts up far from the hoop.

Some people just run around until Griffin see’s a hole and makes a good pass for a bucket. This is also another funny example of a team deciding to completely ignore Ish Smith.

Even though Griffin is such a good passer that this can work, the Pistons would do much better to put constructive action around him. Take this absolute gem from the 3rd quarter.

I hope the new coach see’s this set. It should be a regular one with the Pistons next season.

It starts with the same basic premise as the previous two clips, Griffin is posting up far from the basket while other people run around. But the difference is that his teammates are not just running aimlessly, there is a plan and a good one.

First Reggie Jackson comes down and sets a back-door screen for Stanley Johnson which gives Griffin a quick-hitting option to pass to if Johnson comes open, even though the Suns cover it, this action does start the Suns scrambling a bit and in particular makes Alex Len back-pedal. (On a side note, Reggie Jackson quietly became a really good screener this season)

If you look, even before Jackson comes off the screen, Drummond is already moving to set the second screen for Jackson, a screen that connects with Jackson’s defender. (Elfrid Payton) At the moment Jackson catches the ball, thanks to having to cover the previous Stanley Johnson back-door cut, Alex Len is caught in no man’s land.

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Jackson then has space to take a step into that floater area where he thrives, which forces Len to commit. At that point, it is easy pickings for Jackson to find Drummond for a dunk.

Go back and watch that again. It is absolutely brilliant play design. The biggest flaw in the Jackson/Drummond pick and roll is that teams often will go under screens against Jackson or sometimes even trap him far from the hoop. Going under screens makes Jackson have to hit jump shots, and trapping Jackson forces Drummond to make plays in space. Both players are good enough to make those plays, but they are not good enough to kill opponents with them. This play basically eliminates those possibilities.

With how fast Jackson goes from setting the screen to receiving a screen from Drummond it would require great awareness by Len or Payton to make the right play, and even if they do, the ball is so close to the hoop that Jackson has an easy floater if you go under the screen. And if they trap Jackson then Drummond only has to make one dribble (if that) before dunking the ball.

On top of that, it is leveraging Griffin and his abilities. Just above the elbows is an area where Griffin is very comfortable operating from, if Bender (Griffin’s defender) slips up at all then Griffin is going to have a great chance to score.

Lastly, notice that Stanley Johnson goes immediately from making a back-door cut to set a screen for Reggie Bullock on the opposite side. Bullock waits for a beat to see where the ball is going, if Jackson doesn’t come open the Bullock will fly up for a dribble hand-off against a scrambling defense. Since Jackson gets the ball he cuts to the hoop.

The action in that corner may seem inconsequential. But it keeps the defenders there occupied. Ideally, Josh Jackson should be sliding down into the lane to try and stop Drummond from having a free dunk, but he is too focused on the action to notice. Even if he does notice and slides over, the Suns are guarding two people with one and Drummond either has an open cutter or shooter.

Simply put, that is great play design and the sort of stuff that a new coaching staff will want to get more of.

Some of this onus will fall on Griffin himself. More plays where he doesn’t settle and is aggressive would help him.

On this play, the Suns give him a ton of space. Instead of just taking the open three, Griffin uses all the space as a runway to get up to speed and plow into the lane for a layup. There is a balance here, Griffin hitting some threes will be important for the Pistons offense, but the Pistons should want him attacking the hoop whenever it is practical. He can use his driving ability to make teams play closer to him beyond the arc by making plays like this.

Anything fun from this game?

Yeah, even though Stanley Johnson blew the second one, Griffin had these two slick passes.

As long as he can stay healthy, Griffin is going to be tons of fun to watch.

Nothing from the 4th quarter?

Nope. The game was no longer competitive and it was reflected in the play. So that’s it for this game. Next up will be the derby against the Rockets where Luke Kennard got a full taste of the bright lights.

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