Detroit Pistons: Blake Griffin season preview

Stan Van Gundy moved a lot of assets to get Blake Griffin in a last second effort to save his job with this Detroit Pistons. Will this season be different?

The Detroit Pistons struggled adjusting to the aftermath of the Blake Griffin trade last season and ended up missing the postseason for the second straight season.

Can Blake Griffin help them get back into the postseason this year? He certainly can be a vital piece to this Pistons franchise that hasn’t won a playoff series since the 2007-2008 season.

There’s not much of an argument that Blake Griffin is the best player the Detroit Pistons have at the moment. He’s proved many times that he can be one of the best players in the league when he’s up right.

Blake Griffin by the numbers last season

Griffin played in 58 games because he was dealing with a number of health issues. He sprained his left knee just a month into last year’s regular season and then dealt with an ankle injury after coming to Detroit.

With both teams, Griffin averaged 21 points, seven rebounds and almost six rebounds a game. He averaged 22 points a game with the Clippers. Griffin averaged 19 points per game with the Pistons.

Last season, Griffin had the worst player efficiency rating of his career (19.6). Most players have an adjustment period with their new team when they’re traded half way through the season.

Griffin’s numbers suggest a change to his game. He attempted over 300 three-pointers last season combined with both teams. He attempted 113 the season before and hasn’t eclipsed over 50 in any of his other seasons.

Griffin shot nearly 35 percent from long range last season. The league average was 36 percent. He’s become a better shooter from outside. Considering him a threat from out there would be stretching it.

Griffin averaged more assists per game this past season than he has any other time in his career (5.8). This could be a move to more of a ‘point forward’ style of play in an attempt to keep Griffin healthier. Griffin endured a lot of contact early on in his career which has resulted in injuries.

He’s missed at least 15 games in each of the last four seasons of his career.

Looking ahead to this season

Health will determine what kind of Blake Griffin the Detroit Pistons will get this season. The way his game is trending suggests that he could have a much healthier back end of his career.

One thing to keep an eye on his ball handling and how it’s distributed when Griffin and point guard Reggie Jackson are on the floor. Griffin would bring the ball up the floor regularly last season when Ish Smith was the starting point guard.

It’s pretty obvious that Jackson does like to play with the ball in his hands. We still haven’t watched the two of them play a whole lot together.

A healthy Griffin would mean an increase in his offensive production. His three-point shooting will be another area of his game to keep track of throughout the season.

He’s been taking more of those outside looks and increasing his percentage of makes would just make him that much more versatile.

There wouldn’t be much of a surprise to see Griffin’s rebounding numbers to be lower because of playing alongside Andre Drummond in the front court. Drummond led the league with 16 rebounds per game.

Adjustments will have to be made to his style of play in some regard. Under the works of new head coach Dwane Casey, that shouldn’t be a problem.

He did a fantastic job at getting the most out of his players in Toronto. Casey will likely make Griffin the focal point of this offense.

A healthy Blake Griffin could earn the comeback player of the year award.