Detroit Pistons: Taking a look at the future backcourt
Playing the right way
Having good players is not enough. You need to have those players playing the right way. And those two, do. They’re always active, read the defense, move without the ball, screen, cut, etc.
When defenders close in on Rose’s drive, the passing lanes are closed. Kennard stays active, finds the open lane and cuts to the hoop for a layup.
The Pistons ran the Spain pick & roll too many times against the Pacers and they started catching on. When Malcolm Brogdon switches on Kennard, he cuts behind his back and finds another layup. Reads like this, turn turnovers and bad shots into great shots.
Rose drives again and finds himself in a bad spot. Kennard’s defender stays on him but drifting to the corner creates a passing lane for the kick out.
Brown enters the ball to the post where Markieff Morris has a miss-match. He starts cutting to the opposite side to create space for the post up but notices that Lowry goes for the double. He quickly cuts behind the defense and gets an easy bucket.
Brown is also a great screen setter for a guard. He’s wide and strong and has good fundamentals. He sets a great off-ball screen for Kennard that gives a ton of separation, forcing Thomas Bryant to jump out on him.
Both Kennard and Drummond are open on this play and it’s because of the screen. A bad screen would have allowed Kennard’s man to stay close causing no shift in the defense. Of course, Kennard’s stays patient and finds Tony Snell on the wing.
This is an even better screen for Brown to get Mykhailiuk open. Having a point guard that operates like that allows other players to do what they do best and we shouldn’t underestimate that part of Brown’s game.
Defenders consistently sag off Brown, which means they’re not in a position to switch actions like this. Brown knows he’s not a shooter, so when he has the ball in his hands and sees his defender guarding the paint, he can turn and hand it off to a shooter, like Kennard and the shot will be there most of the time.