2019–2020 NBA Season Previews: Detroit Pistons
Head Coach: Dwayne Casey
Last Season: 41–41, 8th in Eastern Conference
Projected Starters:
- PG: Reggie Jackson
- SG: Bruce Brown Jr.
- SF: Tony Snell
- PF: Blake Griffin
- C: Andre Drummond
Additions: Jordan Bone (R), Sekou Doumbouya (R), Tim Frazier, Louis King (R), Markieff Morris, Derrick Rose, Tony Snell, Christian Wood.
Losses: José Calderón, Wayne Ellington, Jon Leuer, Zach Lofton, Zaza Pachulia, Glenn Robinson III, Ish Smith, Isaiah Whitehead.
The Detroit Pistons finished last season with an even .500 record and managed to sneak into the playoffs for the first time since 2016. Despite snagging the eighth seed and giving their fanbase something to cheer for, the Pistons were met with the same fate as their 2016 postseason. Detroit was decimated by the top-seeded Bucks in a clean sweep, as the Pistons have now gone a full decade without winning a postseason game.
It seems the Pistons have been stuck in mediocrity for the past few years, as they’ve won between 37 to 44 games for four consecutive seasons now. The Motor City franchise appears to be stuck in a classic case of no man’s land, as the Pistons haven’t been good enough to compete for a championship but haven’t lost enough games to get a high draft pick.
If there was one good takeaway from last season for Detroit, it was that Blake Griffin can still perform at an All-Star level. After going through his fair share of injuries and locker room issues in his final years with the Clippers and struggling in his first half season in Detroit, Griffin brought himself and the Pistons back into relevance last year. The former number one pick made his first All-Star team since 2015 and also earned a spot on the All-NBA Third Team.
A big reason why Griffin has experienced a resurgence is that he has redefined his offensive repertoire. Known for being strictly a dunker during his early years in the NBA, injuries have grounded Griffin enough to wear he has added a respectable 3-point shot and improved his post skills down on the block. In his first seven seasons, Griffin never attempted more than two 3-pointers per game and only shot over 33.6% in one of those seasons. In his last two years, Griffin has taken 5.6 and seven 3-point attempts per game, respectively, and shot a career best 36.2% (minimum 100 attempts) last year on 522 attempts.
To put it in perspective, the former Oklahoma Sooner made 214 dunks and seven 3-point shots in his rookie year for the Clippers. Last season, he dunked 37 times and made 189 3-pointers.
Another underrated facet of Griffin’s game is how effective he is as a pick-and-roll ballhandler. Griffin, along with center Andre Drummond, make for a unique big man duo in pick-and-rolls as Griffin has shown the ability to run the floor and pass like a guard.
While Griffin is not a defensive stopper by any means and is still very injury prone, it’s safe to say at this point that the Pistons’ gamble for him has paid off. Griffin has reemerged as a solidified number one option on offense and was getting MVP looks last year before the Pistons hit a mid-season slide.
The Pistons other star player, Andre Drummond, has been somewhat of an enigma so far in his career, and I don’t mean that from a production standpoint. On the court, Drummond is arguably the best rebounder in the NBA, as he’s led the league in offensive rebounding percentage four times and defensive rebounding percentage three times. Drummond has led the NBA in total rebounds the last four seasons and is also a force on defense, as the University of Connecticut product has led the NBA in defensive win shares the last two years.
Drummond had yet another breakout season last year for Detroit. He finished 2018–19 with more than 1,000 points, 1,000 rebounds, 100 blocks, and 100 steals. It was the fourth time he’s eclipsed those marks in a single season, more than any player in NBA history (including Hall of Fame center Hakeem Olajuwon, who did it three times). He’s only the 11th player in NBA history to win multiple rebounding crowns. Oh, and Drummond is still only 25 years old.
Where the enigma description comes into the play lies in the constant, harsh criticism Drummond receives. Despite being a great rebounder for a team that has a rich history of rebounders from Dennis Rodman to “Big Ben” Wallace, Drummond is mercilessly ripped by sports media members of Detroit. During the second half of the season, while Griffin was missing time due to injury, Drummond stepped up and elevated the play of himself and the Pistons. From January 26 on, Drummond allowed just a 51.9% for shots at the rim, the sixth best mark in the NBA.
Even though he is one of the more productive centers in the NBA, many sport media outlets in the city of Detroit have called for Drummond to be traded. According to Patrick Hayes of detroitbadboys.com, Mike Valenti of Detroit’s CBS-affiliated 97.1 The Ticket sports talk station has routinely criticized Drummond and called for him to be traded. In a January segment, Valenti even caught himself nearly saying he “hated” Drummond on the air.
Many have questioned Drummond’s effort and heart for the game, but I think that stems from him making rebounding look easy. Just because he’s bigger and stronger than most players he faces doesn’t mean he isn’t exerting effort. Drummond also consistently volunteers in the community off the court and conducts himself professionally, which makes me question the criticisms he receives from a non-basketball standpoint. The 7-footer may never develop an outside shot or be the main offensive guy for a team, but Drummond is still one of the best centers in the game and deserves to be treated as such.
Much like last season, the question for this Detroit team will be simple: what can the rest of the roster outside of Griffin and Drummond produce? Outside of their power forward-center combination, their roster looks identical to last years, which raises concern as to how far this team can go.
The only major moves the Pistons made this summer in free agency were signing Derrick Rose and Markieff Morris. While those both seem like decent moves on paper, neither of them will help Detroit win significantly more games.
Like Blake Griffin, Derrick Rose had somewhat of a recovery season last year. After his career was on that brink two seasons ago in Cleveland, Rose thrived as a member of the Timberwolves. The former MVP averaged 18 points per game off the bench and showed flashes of his old self, including a career-high 50 points on Halloween last year. “D-Rose” took over games at times with his ability score in isolation and facilitate to his teammates and showed he still had some of the Chicago Bulls days left in him.
While Rose is a decent signing for Detroit, the youngest MVP in NBA history still has his fair share of concerns. The main one is obvious at this point: he’s still injury prone. Rose missed 15 games last season due to bone chips in his elbow. Given how much his injuries have deteriorated his explosiveness, he spends more time than ever on the perimeter and isn’t the best 3-point shooter, although he did shoot a career high 37% last year. Rose also struggles on defense and doesn’t rack up a ton of steals either.
Rose will serve as the backup to Reggie Jackson, who has been a major disappointment in Detroit thus far. After a promising start in his first season and a half in the “Motor City,” Jackson has fallen off and is merely a low-tier NBA starting point guard at this point. His points-per-game has fallen from 18.8 in 2016 to 15.4 in 2019 and his distribution has sunken to 4.2 after averaging at least five-plus assists-per-game early in his Pistons career. On top of his individual performance, Jackson has weighed down the play of Griffin and Drummond, as their net rating is better with Jackson off the court than when he’s on it.
Given that this is the final year of Jackson’s $80 million contract, the Pistons may consider dealing him away. There have been rumors that Detroit is interested in Chris Paul, which could lead to a return to Oklahoma City for Jackson. One thing is for certain: Jackson has a lot to prove this season and a lot of doubters to silence.
Markieff Morris will look to bring the same energy to the Pistons that his brother Marcus did a few seasons ago. Morris is coming off a season where he averaged 9.4 points and 4.6 rebounds in 58 games with the Wizards and Thunder. The 6-foot-10 power forward is a career 33.8% 3-point shooter and 44.9% shooter from the field.
As far as their younger players go, Detroit will have to rely on guys such as Luke Kennard, Bruce Brown Jr., and Sekou Doumbouya to keep the team rolling depth wise. Kennard led all bench players with 9.7 points per game and is the clear cut best shooter on the roster. The Pistons ranked 23rd last season in 3-point percentage and will need Kennard to continue knocking down long-range shots off screens and spotups. The former lottery pick converted 39.4% of his 3-pointers last season, which led the team. Kennard’s confidence also increased and he wasn’t as reluctant to shoot last year as he was in his rookie season.
A second round pick in the 2018 NBA Draft, Bruce Brown Jr., struggled to make an impact offensively in his rookie season in Detroit. Coming out of college, Brown’s main issue was his ability to shoot. So far, that has remained consistent in the NBA. Brown averaged just 4.3 points on 39.8% shooting from the field and 25.8% from 3-point land last year, as defenses would routinely leave him alone on the perimeter to double either Griffin or Drummond.
While Brown may not be a good scorer at this point, he is a heads-up passer who has good vision. Brown is essentially a dirty-work guy at this stage, as he is a superb defender who rebounds well for a guard and showed an ability to play the point guard role if needed in this past Summer League.
In the 2019 NBA Draft, the Pistons selected Sekou Doumbouya with the 15th overall pick. I believe this was a great move for Detroit, as the 6-foot-8 wing should develop into a solid wing player that the Pistons desperately need. While he probably won’t get a lot of minutes this season and is still really young, Doumbouya should eventually prove to be a great fit in the NBA.
Offensively is where Doumbouya is the most raw at this point. While he has showed a knack for getting to the basket and finishing off of cuts and rives, he is still developing as a shooter and shot creator. His ball-handling skills are spotty as well, and at this point he doesn’t have a great feel for the game.
Defensively is where Doumbouya should thrive in the NBA. Given his strength, quickness and versatility, Doumbouya should be able to guard multiple positions in the NBA as his quickness will allow him to keep up with guards and his strength will help him with opposing big men.
X-Factor: Reggie Jackson
In a point guard driven league, the Pistons have struggled to find an elite option at that position over the last few years. Given that the Pistons played 37-year-old Jose Calderon for stretches last season, it’s clear that their confidence in Jackson has been waning.
At this point, we probably can’t expect much more than average point guard play from Jackson. The Pistons need him to be an adequate option in the pick-and-roll and to continue to improve his efficiency as a facilitator, shooter and defender. Given that Derrick Rose is now in town and will be gunning for the starting point guard role, that could give Jackson the spark he needs. If the Pistons want to improve on their .500 mark from last year, it will have to come from improvement at the point guard spot, which starts with Jackson.
Questions:
Has this core reached its peak?
The Pistons look like the same team they had last year, and given that there aren’t any players who should see significant improvement this season, I question how much better this Pistons team can get.
A lot of the Pistons core players have struggled with injuries in the past, and if either Blake Griffin or Andre Drummond go down for a significant amount of time, this team will be in trouble. The Pistons were barely able to finish .500 last year despite a resurgence from Griffin and another solid year from Drummond, which leads me to believe that the talent surrounding those two isn’t sufficient enough for them to compete for anything more than a playoff spot. The Pistons made some minor moves in the off-season that may help their chances slightly, but not to the point where they get out of the seven to ten seed range in the Eastern Conference.
Can this team’s bench production improve?
The Pistons had one of the worst bench units last season. Heading into the 2019–20 season, the Pistons appeared to have upgraded their bench as they’ve added Derrick Rose, Tim Frazier, Markieff Morris and Joe Johnson to go along with Luke Kennard and Thon Maker. Rose and Frazier will be upgrades at second and third-string point guard over Ish Smith and Jose Calderon.
The newest addition to the Pistons reserves is “Iso” Joe Johnson, who is coming off an MVP season in the BIG3 League. He has no issues driving towards the basket, pulling up, stepping back, hitting leaners or posting up smaller defenders. He’s comfortable taking contested outside shots and should provide a spark offensively for the Pistons off the bench.
Verdict:
The Pistons should once again end up in the same spot they’ve been for the last four years: a fringe playoff team that will win roughly 38 to 42 games. Simply put it, this team will go as far as Blake Griffin and Andre Drummond can take them.
