The future of the NBA big man and the Detroit Pistons

Is the NBA reverting back to multiple big men in the same lineup? If so, the Detroit Pistons are in a good position moving forward.

The past decade of the NBA has been defined by super-teams that changed the way basketball was played in the NBA. The big three of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh formed the “Heatles” and solidified small ball during the 2012 playoffs by inserting Shane Battier into the starting lineup and moving Bosh to center. Through a Bosh injury, the Miami Heat discovered their version of small-ball that would help them win back-to-back titles.

Another injury helped form the most dangerous team of the decade when Draymond Green started in favor of David Lee to begin the Golden State Warriors’ 2014-15 season. The formation of “The Death Lineup” and eventually with the addition of Kevin Durant, “The Hamptons Five” changed the NBA for the remainder of the decade.

Big men who relied on post play became devalued to the point of extinction as they clogged the lane with their inefficiency.

Guys with talents like Greg Monroe found themselves immediately overpaid by the NBA’s new standard of what a what a big man should be and are now bouncing around the league on low paying contracts or finding a role overseas.

Monroe, 29, signed a one-year deal with Bayern Munich, according to Eurohoops.com.

Bigs like Blake Griffin and Brook Lopez, having an eye toward the future, changed their game to add the 3-point shot to their repertoire in order to stay relevant and add longevity to their playing careers.

Traditional centers such as Rudy Gobert, Clint Capela, and Andre Drummond have found themselves needing to be excellent rim protectors, hyper-efficient on offense, and demonstrate success during a playoff series or fear being written off as overpaid, nonessential, and irrelevant in the “modern NBA.”

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But perhaps the offseason of 2019 changed everything again. Could this offseason mark the end of small ball dominating the NBA? Jared Dubin of FiveThirtyEight explored this question here.

The league now figures to be wide open with no odds-on, favorite super-team standing in the way, and dictating styles of play. The Golden State Warriors are no longer determining who can and cannot play on the biggest stages of the NBA, and a number of teams seem to be trending toward multiple big men.

The Lakers have Anthony Davis, who is the ideal big man for this era but doesn’t want to play center. Because of this, it is anticipated that the Lakers will roll out a big lineup that plays Davis at the four with one of DeMarcus Cousins or JaVale McGee at the five.

The class of the Eastern conference looks to be large in the front court. The Sixers will open with Joel Embiid and Al Horford as their starting bigs, and the Bucks have Giannis Antetokounmpo and Brook Lopez.

Even amongst teams that don’t project to be the favorites to contend for the finals, the Blazers, Pacers, and Raptors may trot out quite a few two-big lineups.

But where do the Pistons stand in this NBA landscape? They are planning on running back their own two-big lineup with Griffin and Drummond, but don’t seem to have many believers outside of Detroit, at least not in Las Vegas as Aaron Ferguson notes.

The Pistons’ bigs seem to be overlooked even though the trend of this offseason would suggest a resurgence toward lineups that feature two bigs over small-ball. Even Dubin failed to mention them in his article.

Perhaps it is because of the optics that surround Drummond and Griffin.

With the contenders who are opting for bigger lineups, they have at least one big who can spread the floor: Davis, Lopez, Horford, and Embiid will at least take threes and make them at a little over 30 percent.

Detroit has that type of player in Blake Griffin, who had a career year shooting over 36 percent on seven attempts per game from deep. Additionally, he took and made more difficult off-the-dribble threes than Davis, Lopez, Horford, and Embiid combined. Nevertheless, Blake Griffin seems to be viewed more as the high-flying dunker that he was instead of the versatile scoring big man that he is now.

Maybe Detroit is being overlooked in this two-big discussion more because of how general NBA narratives view Andre Drummond. Unlike Griffin, Drummond has not developed an outside shot to this point, unless you are a believer in the summer videos of him knocking down open threes.

Because of his inefficient post game and inability to spread the floor, Drummond has been overlooked as a top center in the NBA. Even though he is the game’s best rebounder and averaged over 1.5 steals and blocks per game last season, he is often dismissed as a big not made for the “modern NBA” because of his offensive game.

But the “modern NBA” is changing before our eyes as an increasing number of teams go big.

Personally, I am optimistic that the Pistons’ bigs fit where the NBA is headed over the next couple of years. If the summer videos foreshadow new abilities for Drummond, then great news! But even if he isn’t shooting an Embiid or Nikola Jokic level of about 30 percent as they did last year, the Griffin-Drummond pairing works and will be needed against the other big-man combos seen around the league next year.

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As for the Pistons’ frontcourt future, questions definitely remain. Will Drummond make the Pistons decide whether he is in their future plans by opting out of his contract next summer? Blake Griffin will likely be a Piston for the next three years, but will he stay healthy and age well with his transformed game? What is reasonable to expect from Sekou Doumbouya now and as he develops in the future?

A decision on Drummond is the most immediate of the future questions with next summer’s free agent list lacking other notable players. Deciding how much the Pistons are willing to pay Drummond may depend on how Detroit’s bigs stack up against the others in the league this upcoming year.

The Pistons will face a question that the entire NBA will be forced to answer in the next few years as we transition away from death lineups and Hampton fives.

How much is a big man worth?