Sports

Yashinsky: It May Be Panic Time for Stan Van Gundy and the Detroit Pistons

January 24, 2017, 2:22 PM by  Joey Yashinsky

Will the Pistons' season go down the drain? 

 

Patience in sports can be tricky. 

Too little could short-circuit a promising future by moving pieces before they have proper time to gel.

But too much patience could hold a franchise hostage waiting on a group of players that never really had the chops to begin with.

Case in point: the Detroit Pistons. 

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Stan Van Gundy

This is a flawed team.  And it isn’t just something that has played out over a couple of rough games or weeks.  This squad has been in a season-long funk.

Reggie Jackson's return didn’t turn things around and minor changes to the starting lineup had very little impact. 

Yet, by all accounts, Stan Van Gundy is continuing to solidify this group’s core instead of possibly looking to bring in a wrecking ball and start from scratch. He already handed out major extensions to Andre Drummond and Reggie Jackson.  There’s a good chance that big Kentavious Caldwell-Pope dollars are also right around the corner. 

If this threesome represented the core of a future contender, by all means, lock ‘em up.  Dole out the cheddar and watch the banners rise to the rafters.

Unfortunately, that scenario is beginning to seem very unlikely. 

Schooled by the Hobbling Sacramento Kings

The Pistons were outclassed last night at the Palace by a Sacramento team lugging around a five-game losing streak and missing one of their best players (Rudy Gay).  They have guards like Ty Lawson and Aaron Afflalo, both on the wrong side of their prime, playing serious minutes.  And in the fourth quarter, the Pistons were run off the court.  It’s the second loss in just a few weeks to the Kings, a team sitting 10 games below the .500 mark. 

Pay attention to the way the Pistons ran their offense in that final period.  Many possessions began with the same action: Reggie Jackson at the top of the key with Andre Drummond coming to set a pick.  With the league’s best teams, this type of two-man game can be devastating.  For the Pistons, it often results in nothing.

The problems on this all-important NBA pet play begin with Drummond.  He doesn’t actually set screens.  Watch him closely the next time you tune in.  He slips the screen almost every single time; meaning, he makes no contact with the guard, doesn’t really set Jackson free, and just roams toward the rim hoping for an easy alley-oop.  This little gimmick is not super-difficult for other NBA teams to recognize and then defend.  “Slipping” is often used as a surprise tactic; you’ve spent all night long setting punishing screens, so when you choose to actually take off to the basket before touching anybody, it can confuse the defense and lead to a dunk.  But do it every time and it becomes quite predictable and ultimately, ineffective. 

On a key possession late in the game, Drummond actually decided he would set a real pick.  Only, he was not really sure how to position his body, wound up leaving his spot too early, and was called for an offensive foul.  You can’t help but wonder if a fundamental skill such as this is just missing for Andre.  After all, he never really had any significant college experience.  He had a cup of coffee at UConn and it was right off to the pros. Thus, things like screen-setting, boxing out, and free throw shooting remain as massive holes in Drummond’s arsenal. 

The elite big men in today’s league are true weapons in that two-man game because you can’t just ignore them from 12-15 feet.  Marc Gasol, Anthony Davis, LaMarcus Aldridge, DeMarcus Cousins, Blake Griffin, and Paul Millsap: they are all threats from the outside, some even extending beyond the arc.  Drummond is mostly just a slam dunk or offensive rebound guy, and unfortunately, it is very hard to pin the hopes of a franchise on a player with such a limited skill set.

Middle-of-the-Pack Guards 

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Reggie Jackson

Jackson and Caldwell-Pope are similar.  Both show flashes of being All-Star type guards, but it comes too sporadically to generate any sweeping excitement.  Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan are what Jackson and Caldwell-Pope aspire to be, and while it’s not inconceivable that they could reach such heights, any objective viewer would have to say it is hard to envision.

The Pistons give Jackson the ball down the stretch in close games and let him do his own thing. They’ll throw that non-existent high screen out there from Drummond, but for the most part, it is up to Reggie to create.  And to this point in his career, he has not yet shown the ability to be that level of player.  Those isolation masters are few and far between. Tracy McGrady was that guy in Houston, Kobe Bryant obviously for many years in LA.  Kevin Durant, Steph Curry, Kyrie Irving, Davis in New Orleans: these guys fall in that category.  Jackson isn’t there yet and might never be; it's troubling that the team continues to rely on him to close out games down the stretch.

The issue is that the franchise gave Jackson a big extension to be just that type of frontline player. The Pistons watched him be an effective bench option and part-time starter in Oklahoma City, then rolled the dice that there were real superstar qualities just waiting to burst out.  Yet while Jackson is most definitely a good NBA guard with no glaring weaknesses, the potential star power is becoming more difficult to see. 

For players that dominate the ball during large parts of the game, they need to do at least one thing at a very high level.  You can be a brilliant passer like Stockton, or a deadeye shooter like Curry, or an unstoppable penetrator like Westbrook.  Jackson isn’t really a top-shelf guy at any of those things.  Thus, when it gets to be crunch time and the Pistons just hand the rock to him in hopes of greatness being unleashed, the result is often underwhelming. 

Where to Go 

This is the predicament for Van Gundy and the Pistons. They don’t want to overreact to every loss, but can’t afford to dismiss three months of below-average basketball, either. 

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Andre Drummond

Sometimes we fall into the habit of thinking that certain players will become elite because their draft position or giant contract says they should.  It was just a few years back when the franchise was trying to sell the fan base on a core of Brandon Knight and Greg Monroe. They’re lottery picks. . . . . NBA Finals, here we come!

The Jackson-Drummond duo is probably better, but not that much better.

The Pistons need to think about dramatic roster changes.  Young playoff teams like they were last year don’t usually take a major step backward the following season.  If the mix is right, they should continue to ascend, clawing into the top half of the bracket and maybe even grabbing a series victory.  But the Pistons have regressed, and that reality cannot be ignored.

Often, the easy thing is to play it safe.  Punt on fourth-and-one, take out the starter after 100 pitches, don’t pull the goalie until less than a minute remains.  But much of the time, that fear can lead to disaster.

It might seem scary for an organization like the Pistons to start thinking about a shakeup coming off their first playoff appearance in seven years.  But what’s even scarier is the thought of waiting another seven for this core to materialize into something it was never meant to be.

Patience is a virtue; but use it in excess and it can turn into a death sentence.



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