Derrick Rose’s championship dreams for Detroit Pistons

“Two great bigs”

When the Pistons acquired Blake Griffin in a trade from the Clippers, there was certainly a mixed reaction from the media.

“Don’t you get it, you idiots?” One of you probably said, “Have you watched the Warriors and their small-ball offense? That’s the only way to win nowadays, we are always so behind the times.”

The league is shifting to big men with more skills than the traditional center, there is no questioning that. However, I am a firm believer that trying to succeed in other ways than the “trendy” way could actually hold some value.

Let me use an example with the National Football League.  After watching the Kansas City Chiefs and the Los Angeles Rams explode onto the scene with their spread, high passing-volume offenses, everybody wanted to be like them. However, that’s not the only way to win, as demonstrated by teams like New England Patriots, who prefer to control the clock and focus on running the ball.

Sometimes in Major League Baseball the pitchers dominate for an entire decade, and other times the pitchers are crying about the balls being potentially juiced.

What I’m trying to get across is that there is more than one way to win. And when a lot of teams go left, instead of frantically running behind them trying to copy their every move, it’s okay to go right.

And that’s where the Pistons are at. Griffin dominated last season, completely revolutionizing his game. Andre Drummond is continuing to work on his offensive skillset, and could absolutely dominate in a year that is leading up to his expected free agency.

It’s not like there aren’t other teams investing in their big men. This summer the 76ers signed Al Horford to play power forward next to Joel Embiid at center. Both them and the Bucks are frustratingly long, and the Pistons felt the impact of that last year in the playoffs.

Improving on the margins and adding a player of Rose’s pedigree might not be enough to sky-rocket the Pistons into the top tier of the conference, but it certainly could propel them to middle-of-the-pack, in a conference where many feel that if you get in, you have a shot.