How the Detroit Pistons can stay afloat until Blake Griffin returns

The sleeper

Andre Drummond has shown major improvement this preseason and few people are talking about it. With Griffin out, it could be Drummond’s chance to shine as a secondary creator.

It’s not like Drummond became Rajon Rondo all of a sudden. It’s just that playmaking from the center position is extremely valuable. Denver torched the league last year with Nikola Jokic making plays from the high post and Marc Gasol provided Toronto the spark it needed on offense to make it to the end.

Drummond is nowhere near the passer (and on a different universe as a shooter) those two are but that’s okay. He just has to make the easy plays consistently to be a reliable secondary option as an initiator.

More from PistonPowered

• Which Detroit Pistons could save Team USA in the Olympics?
• Detroit Pistons could have major roster churn after 2023-24 season
• The best Detroit Pistons to wear each uniform number
• Full Detroit Pistons NBA 2K24 ratings
• Detroit Pistons: Who will sign the remaining NBA free agents?

Just the fact that he can find backdoor cutters is enough. You see, Drummond is a great screen setter. So, when he’s in the high post ready to hand it off to a shooter, his defender has to be up there to help. Otherwise, the Pistons can get an easy three if the screen sticks.

Drummond (and Griffin) has so much gravity as a screen setter that almost all of the Pistons players were in the top quarter percentile coming off DHOs. Tony Snell and Rose are already in that club on low volume, so it’ll be exciting to see what they can do next to him.

With Drummond’s defender out of the lane, there’s a ton of space for anyone to attack and the Pistons can take advantage of every different coverage, as long as Drummond can consistently make the right read, which he has.

Defender goes under the screen on Brown and Drummond quickly hands it off and gets Brown’s man on the re-screen. He’s had a lot of practice playing next to Ish Smith. This DHO just turns into a more effective version of the high pick&roll. Brown gets an off-ball corner screen before the DHO which makes his defender late.

Another added bonus for Brown is that he gets the ball in triple threat position. It’s much easier to attack off the catch than it is to attack off the dribble and Brown easily gets to the rim. The rest is easy as Thompson has to rotate to block the straight-line drive.

This is simple stuff but not all centers can execute plays like this. It takes a certain amount of decision making and passing ability that Drummond possesses. When it’s a good shooter coming off the DHO, a good defense will trail him, just like Jeremy Lamb has to do in the play below.

Drummond knows not to hand it off and risk a turnover. Instead, he holds onto it for just a second and times the pass perfectly to find Kennard on the move to the rim. Help defense has to come and Kennard is smart enough to kick it out. Unfortunately, Smith is the recipient.

Sometimes the defense will deny the pass and overplay. Drummond can punish that coverage with backdoor passes. Especially in the preseason, he displayed impressive timing and accuracy on the pass. He was also able to probe with the ball in his hands, survey the floor and make correct reads.

This one, in particular, is very impressive. Not only does he direct his teammates to follow Casey’s rules but he also makes a great pass with the spin bounce to find the small target, Tim Frazier, through traffic.

Even against Milwaukee’s tough defense, Drummond and Kennard find a way. Pat Connaughton gets physical before the screen, which is what he should be doing, but Kennard does an impeccable Houdini impression to escape. Drummond puts it right out of Giannis Antetokounmpo’s reach, which is a tall task, and Kennard gets a layup.

Passing on the move was not something Drummond has done much in the past. But in the games the Pistons have played so far, he showed both willingness and capability to find open shooters. With Griffin gone, Kennard will probably take Brown’s place and Drummond will be playing with four capable shooters, maybe for the first time in his life.

If Kennard starts, we’ll be finally able to see what the Jackson-Drummond pick-and-roll looks like with adequate shooting from all other positions and you shouldn’t sleep on how effective that offense could be. Especially with the way Drummond has been playing so far.

Kicking it out when he can, will do a lot for his shot selection. Those kick-outs are situations where Drummond would usually try to finish, with mixed results. Turning some of his ugly shots into open three’s is probably the best thing that can happen to this team this year and I’m not even kidding.

Instead of throwing 30 percent flip shots, the Pistons will get wide-open corner three’s, which is one of the best shots in the game. I can’t emphasize how important that is. So, don’t panic just yet. This stretch could be interesting to watch.