Detroit Pistons replay center: Blake Griffin post-ups (part 2)

Bad habits

All players have their faults and Griffin is no exception. There’s a clear trend in the tape as far as I can tell. Often times Griffin will take it upon himself to finish possessions when he clearly shouldn’t. This happens especially in late clock situations, which make up over 28 percent of his attempts. And most of the time, Griffin is the one that dribbles down the clock.

As Griffin makes moves middle, he can see three defenders closing in on him. That should trigger an immediate response to find the open shooter. Instead, he tries to dribble away from the triple team and finish it himself as the clock runs down.

Not only were these some of his less efficient shots but the film suggests some of his toughest ones too. Passing more out of those situations could prove to be a big improvement in his game. Hopefully, this will raise team efficiency and lighten his offensive load at the same time.

Take this clip for example. He knows the Celtics are shrinking the floor, he knows Daniel Theis is ready to contest near the rim and he knows he has three shooters around him. But his first instinct is to beat Terry Rozier, so he decides to take the last shot even though the Celtics are closing in on him.

That doesn’t mean that Griffin is an unwilling passer overall. Tracking data suggests that he passes as much as he finishes out of post-ups. It means that he could be better and that he would help his team a lot even with minor changes.

Working on the accuracy of his passes should also be a point of emphasis in his workouts. He’s not a turnover machine or anything like that but if he wants to take his game to the next level, finding shooters right in their shooting pocket would be a major improvement.

Andre Drummond‘s position is also very important and complicates the situation as hell. When in the dunker spot, the short corner, Drummond allows his man to be in range to contest. Al Horford acts as a shadow, blocking Griffin’s path to the rim. Irving can’t hold his ground but after seeing the help defense, Griffin turns around for a fall away jumper.

Drummond’s position doesn’t help in this particular play and would potentially be better off as an off-ball screener. His tendency to go after the rebound didn’t help the Pistons score this time. Recognizing these kinds of instances falls on the players, especially Drummond. But analytics can inform their decisions.

This clip below is a better example. It’s late in the game, so Griffin naturally tries to post up despite the fact that Taj Gibson is guarding him. Drummond himself ducks in to get a good position for the rebound. However, in doing so he allows Karl-Anthony Towns to be in a perfect position for a block and there’s no rebound to be had.

That’s not to say Drummond should never do this. In fact, he cleans up a lot of Griffin’s missed post-ups. A lot.

And sometimes opposing centers get too eager themselves, committing too hard on the double team and leaving Drummond open.

But there is a trade-off that complicates things. If someone wanted to analyze further, they would look at the parameters deciding the probability of an offensive rebound or a dump-off pass. My estimation is that it mostly depends on the size, rim protection and rebounding ability of the opposing center.

Drummond spacing in the corner complicates his defender’s decision and allows a better angle for the pass when Griffin is coming from the high post. Drummond is too far away for Nikola Vucevic to check him and can sneakily cut for a dunk when Vucevic tries to help his teammate.

In any case, unpredictability is important so mixing things up during a game is necessary. Having Drummond setting flare screens on the perimeter takes the center out of the equation but offensive rebounds too. At least if he’s going to set off ball screens, he has to do better than that.

And Griffin has to pass the ball even if he feels he can beat his opponent. Bullock was open for a while in this one and Blake clearly saw him but he thought he could score on Jaren Jackson Jr so he went for it.

Getting everybody involved is his responsibility as the leader of the team. He did that more in the second half of last season but I fear it was mostly because he was too tired from carrying the team in the first half. Well, this time he has to find the right balance from the get-go if he wants to stay healthy and fresh for the playoffs.

Of course, the Pistons weren’t helping him much when they put lineups like this on the floor.  Smith, Brown, Glenn Robinson III and Drummond. What do you expect him to do?

Spacing is important but to achieve that you don’t only need good shooters. You need synchronization too. The Mavericks are in a zone defense that sends double teams for Griffin. Brown cuts when the angle for the pass is nonexistent. He didn’t stay in his spot because he’s not a shooter. But if he did Bullock could’ve have swung the ball to him and he could’ve found Jackson in the corner.

Instead, he cuts without purpose and the play breaks down. Bullock didn’t make the skip pass to Jackson either and Blake Griffin took a contested three. Bad decisions all around and it started because the players were not on the same page. I’d bet it’s because they’re not used to zone defense.

The same thing happens below. Bullock and Griffin are not on the same page. The former cuts, bringing his defender with him, as the latter makes a move to the rim. Isaac is able to contest the shot and it’s all thanks to Bullock’s ill-timed cut to the rim.

That’s why continuity matters so much. Playing with the same teammates for a long time you start picking up on their cues. You can sort of guess what they’ll do or what they want you to do and ball movement becomes much easier.