We’ve never seen Detroit Pistons big man Blake Griffin playing like he has this season. But it seems like no other player brings what the team needs to win.
The All-Star, power forward of the Detroit Pistons, Blake Griffin; is putting up numbers that only a few can boast in the NBA: 26 points a game, 8.1 rebounds a game and 5.2 assists a game.
Griffin has been able to achieve this, thanks to the fact that he has managed to adapt in a surprising way to both, its loss of explosiveness (something that naturally comes with the years), as well as the style of play of the current NBA.
We have seen Griffin enjoying being in Detroit, and being the image of a team that has needed an identity since the last pieces of the “Going To Work Pistons” were gone; but we have also seen the frustration on his face when his teammates seem to be walking on the floor, something that does not quite fit with the personality that forged the championship teams of this franchise.
This has been reflected in a 50 point game (vs. the Philadelphia Sixers on October 23rd), a 44 game (vs. Clippers on January 12th) and several 30+ points games during the season.
Although we like this (personally, I enjoy it) as Pistons fans, these efforts and many others by Griffin in different areas of the game have not succeeded to make the team coached by Dwane Casey a protagonist in the Eastern Conference.
Analyzing team numbers this season, I found Griffin leading the team in points and assists and second in rebounds. These three statistics are the most important in the current game, unless you are the defensive leader of your team like Andre Drummond, who is first in rebounds, steals and blocks.
Where do I want to go by sharing these numbers? Blake and Andre make the team work, but what about the other players and why aren’t the Detroit Pistons winning?
Well, the only ones who average double figures in points (besides the last two guys I mentioned) are Reggie Jackson and Reggie Bullock, and none of them is the second best scorer.
Let’s talk about rebounds. Zaza Pachulia is the third best rebounder on the team, which is good; but, if we realize that he does not average even 5 rebounds per game (4.7) you can see that may not be as helpful.
In terms of assists, our starting point guard is second; and fails to reach 5 assists per game (4.1), and the third place; fan favorite Ish Smith has hardly played because of his injury, and only averages 2.8 assists per game.
This kind of numbers remind me a bit of the 2000-2001 season, where two players stood out from the others and seemed to receive no help.
Those two players were Jerry Stackhouse (leader in points and assists), and Ben Wallace (leader in rebounds, steals and blocks). And the rest of the team was equal to the current one. The starting point guard named Chucky Atkins averaged 4.1 assists per game… coincidence?
I don’t think so.
That season the Detroit Pistons finished with a record of 32-50, finishing in 10th place in the East… coincidence? I don’t like to play the fortune teller, but there is a saying in my country that says “people who do not know or learn from their history, are doomed to repeat it.”
The Detroit Pistons are enjoying the best year of Griffin in his career, but it seems that those around him are not the right players to make our Pistons the winning team we all want.
The Trade Deadline is approaching (February 7th) and, if Ed Stefanski doesn’t make moves on the roster, we will see ourselves repeating the history of those boys who wore a horse in their teal jersey at the beginning of the last decade.