Andre Drummond, Dwane Casey key to Detroit Pistons playoff hopes

Over the past three weeks, Andre Drummond has been on an absolute tear and it’s clear that Dwane Casey changing the Detroit Pistons offense has something to do with it.

When Andre Drummond went out with concussion protocol, it left many Detroit Pistons fans thinking, “here we go again”.

The Pistons have had their seasons ruined in previous years due to injuries to Reggie Jackson. The team this year was looking pretty good, and then Ish Smith went down with an injury. In his absence, the Pistons went 5-14. The team went from 13-9 and being in good position, to 18-23 and questioning the course for this season.

Then Drummond goes down, and even though the Pistons were still struggling before it left a lot of us thinking this team just can’t catch a break.

Well, Drummond missing some games has turned out to help himself and the Pistons.

Before the concussion the discussion around Drummond was getting heated among Pistons followers. He was taking a lot of shots and wasn’t being efficient with the shot attempts at all. Through the first 44 games, Drummond had a true shooting percentage of 51 percent.

In comparison, other “rim running” centers like DeAndre Jordan have a true shooting percentage of 67 percent.

The discussion about whether Drummond actually helps this team was being discussed by some (hahahahaha) and the efficiency was the core of their argument.

Drummond is a rim running center who doesn’t score efficiently, how is that a formula for success?

However, the problem was Drummond actually was not a rim running center through these 44 games.

Drummond was left wandering around a majority of the time in Dwane Casey’s offense. This led to Drummond posting up a ton, which we all know is a bad thing. Along with the post-ups, Drummond was left handling the ball and having to create his own shot from beyond the paint.

That isn’t something rim running centers do.

At one point before the concussion protocol, Drummond was being assisted on only 51 percent of his buckets midway at the start of January.

For example, Jordan has 74 percent of his field goals assisted on.

This is because Jordan is actually being used as a rim runner, and is not being asked to do things he cannot do.

This was a major issue in Casey’s offense, and the blame falls at his feet.

You cannot say Drummond is a rim runner, when he was not being used at all as a rim runner through the first 44 games. We all know that Drummond is one of the best in the game when he’s used as a rim runner, so the fact he wasn’t being used this way is on Casey.

Maybe Drummond being out those three games made things click in Casey’s head, because there has been a drastic difference in the offense and the use of Drummond.

In the last nine games since returning from the concussion protocol, the Detroit Pistons are 5-4 and were on a four game winning streak before losing to the Boston Celtics before the All Star break.

Drummond is averaging 22.8 points, 15.7 rebounds, 1.9 blocks, and two steals a game while shooting 67 percent from the field and 71 percent from the free throw line. That is good for a true shooting percentage of 68.8 percent.

But, none of those stats are even close to as important as this.

Over these nine games, Drummond has been assisted on 64.3 percent of his field goals.

This has raised Drummond’s assisted field goal percentage from that 51 percent in early January, to 56.5 percent.

This is one of those times when the analytics absolutely confirm what the eye test is telling you.

Instead of wondering around and posting up, Drummond is now being used in the pick and roll with Jackson and Blake Griffin a ton more.

We’ve also seen the use of Spain pick and rolls, and we’ve seen Drummond being used as a cutter from the high-post and the baseline.

Casey deserves credit for FINALLY changing this, and making the tweaks to enable Drummond to be the guy we know he can be.

Whether this continues is the key to the Detroit Pistons success to end the season. If Casey continues to use Drummond in this way, and Drummond continues to succeed in the rim running/cutting role (he will), the Pistons will make the playoffs.

For now before the Detroit Pistons return Friday against the Atlanta Hawks, I’ll just wonder…

What took so long?