Has Glenn Robinson III earned back his rotation spot for the Detroit Pistons?

Glenn Robinson III has received meaningful playtime in the last couple games for the Detroit Pistons. But is he worthy of receiving his rotation spot back?

Glenn Robinson III is coming off an impressive back to back performances off the bench for the Detroit Pistons. He scored 8 points and grabbed 4 rebounds in 19 minutes against the Portland Trail Blazers. He followed that up with 7 points in 13 minutes against the Indiana Pacers.

Thon Maker had filled in the starting power forward position for the injured Blake Griffin. This forced Dwane Casey to insert Glenn in the bench rotation due to the lack of big men on the team.

Before Glenn Robinson III was removed from the rotation, he had been a nightmare for just about every Pistons 5 man lineup that played meaningful minutes. In the three lineups with 30 or more minutes played, all of them netted a negative rating. And two of the three were over a negative 20 net rating.

If you look at 4 man lineups with over 50 minutes played, only one of nine of the lineups netted a positive rating. It was the bench unit of Ish Smith, Langston Galloway, Luke Kennard, and Glenn Robinson III. They net an offensive rating of 113 points per game and a defensive rating of 94.2.

Glenn had no expectations of putting on impressive performances in these games. In fact, fans were probably hoping Glenn can just do enough that the game doesn’t get out of hand.  Still though an impressive two games without Blake Griffin.

He looked to work smoothly with the bench unit. Moving off screens, cutting to the rim, and just getting himself good-looking shots.

Here you can see Glenn cutting to the basket after his defender came to double-team Kennard

Here is another winning play Glenn provided. Kennard missed the three but Glenn caught the two Portland defenders napping on the rebound attempt; giving him an easy tip lay up.

These types of plays could become key come playoff time. And getting him some action before playoff time could become beneficial depending on who the Pistons play in the first round.

If the Pistons play Toronto in round one, they could possibly be exposed at the wing position if they decide to keep Glenn out of the rotation. Kawhi Leonard has abused the Pistons in the games he has played. The Pistons traded their only big wing defender in Stanley Johnson.

So having Glenn play up on Kawhi and hoping he could be a solution in slowing him down might be the way to win games in the playoffs.

Who does Glenn replace?

Glenn might have earned his spot back in the rotation. I think he could provide an impact for the bench rotation especially come playoff time. The biggest question would be who Glenn Robinson III would replace in the rotation spot.

The starting positions are locked. There is absolutely no way Glenn becomes a starter over Bruce Brown and Wayne Ellington. And Kennard, Langston, and Thon are easily better players and contributors to the team than Glenn is.

That leaves Zaza Pachulia. Zaza has not been good for the Pistons. The Pistons see an immediate drop off in production when Zaza enters the court. It doesn’t matter if the starters minus Andre Drummond are out their with him. Zaza seems to make the team worse.

Too simplify it, Zaza has not been good for the Pistons in the last month. He is averaging just about the same amount of rebounds per game as fouls per game.

His early foul trouble in the second quarter is a blessing in disguise. If he didn’t pick up those fouls, the team’s net rating could possibly be worse than what it already is.

Many Twitter users have nicknamed him “The Walking Foul” because of his tendency to foul players as soon as he enters the court

The Thon and Zaza two-man lineup has been terrible for the Pistons. In 124 total minutes, that two-man lineup has produced a net rating of -9.3.

Thon Maker isn’t good playing the center position. He is taller than most guys, but most big men can out muscle him when he is playing on defense. Also Maker doesn’t grab a lot of rebounds.

But Zaza isn’t any better playing for the Pistons. This might be a situation where you have to test out the Thon and Robinson duo and see if it works.

Bench rotation would be Ish, Langston, Kennard, Glenn, and Thon. The Pistons might lose the board battle. But they had already been losing the board battle with Zaza on the floor.

So if Dwane Casey want’s to try something new, this is probably it.