NBA Daily: Grading The Offseason – Detroit Pistons

Welcome back to another edition of “Grading the Offseason.” So far we’ve evaluated those whose seasons ended collectively on April 10. Today we’re changing it up a bit and looking at those who managed to make it into the playoffs. First off, we’re heading up to Motown to take a look at the Detroit Pistons.

The Pistons might just be the most strictly average team in the league right now. They have one of the most talented frontcourt duos in Andre Drummond and Blake Griffin, and there are worse starting point guards then Reggie Jackson – but outside of those three, their roster is paper-thin.

What makes it worse is that – despite the moves they’ve made leading up to this past season – the Pistons have remained roughly the same since 2015. Was there anything different about this past season, and did this summer make their outlook brighter?

Overview

If you technically improved record-wise and made the playoffs, does that mean your season was a success? Ask the Detroit Pistons.

Detroit improved its win total from the previous season by two and made the playoffs for the first time in three years. The Pistons didn’t have much time to celebrate their playoff berth, as the Bucks swept them not too long after that. A 41-41 record and a quick out in the postseason is as far from remarkable as it can get.

For the Pistons, there was more to it than that. Blake Griffin was getting his first full season with the team. Reigning Coach of the Year Dwane Casey was getting a fresh start in Detroit. Reggie Jackson was coming back fully healthy. The roster wasn’t exactly boasting much talent, but the Pistons had higher expectations on their hands.

Even though their record was as average as average can get, they never had a full month where they played like an average team. The Pistons were pretty hot and cold throughout the entire season. If that sounds weird, check out their monthly totals.

October: 4-3
November: 8-4
December: 4-11
January: 6-10
February: 7-3
March: 10-6
April: 2-4

They never seemed to capitalize on their good stretches, but never let their bad stretches get them down either. It’d be hard to come up with a better word to describe those totals than inconsistent. However, among all fluctuating results that came about, there was one consistency throughout the season: Blake Griffin’s return to prominence.

Rampant injuries and declining athleticism have made Blake Griffin’s stock decline a tad over the past few years. Detroit gave up a respectable haul for Blake last year, but they didn’t exactly give up the farm for him. Many thought Blake was in the twilight of his career. When the season was over, he proved that he was far from it.

Griffin averaged 24.5 points on 46/36/75 splits this season, with a special emphasis put on the 36 percent from distance. Now Blake is not the leaper he was during his younger days, but he compensated for it with an improved three-point shot. While he has taken a fair amount of threes over his career, he’s never taken them at the volume he did this past season. Blake has shot 1112 threes since entering the league. 522 of them came from this season alone.

The fact that he shot his best percentage from there (36.2) since 2015 made him that much more of an all-around threat, as the Pistons’ offense was plus-6.9 with him on the court. Griffin’s efforts did not go unnoticed, as he made both the All-Star team and an All-NBA team for the first time since 2015.

Outside of him though, there’s not much else to say about the Pistons. Andre Drummond and Reggie Jackson were fine given what was expected of them, but those are just two guys. Beyond them, there wasn’t a whole lot that stood out from their players individually.

The most intriguing player besides them this past season was the play of sophomore Luke Kennard. Detroit is going to hear it from everyone about taking Kennard over Donovan Mitchell in the 2017 draft. The skeptics are probably going to be right seeing what Mitchell has been able to do compared to Kennard. Even so, Detroit has something good in the 23-year-old.

The season started a little slow for Luke. Detroit didn’t give him much time right off the bat. Then, on December 10, Luke’s fortunes changed. The Duke alum had a breakout performance against Philadelphia, putting up 28 points on 61/62/50 splits. There were a few more growing pains along the way, but by the 28th of that same month, Kennard was firmly in the rotation.

From there on out, Luke proved himself valuable. He averaged almost 11 points on 45/41/85 splits, which are promising numbers for a young guard. Those only got better when the playoffs, as he scored 15 points on 48/45/62 splits. Those statistics would be a lot more encouraging if they didn’t occur in four consecutive blowouts.

Other than Kennard’s progression, not much else of note happened. The Pistons traded Reggie Bullock for Svi Mykhailiuk, who did nothing. They also traded Stanley Johnson for Thon Maker, who did next to nothing. After making those trades, they brought in Wayne Ellington, who much like Drummond and Jackson, was fine. That’s better than nothing…?

Overall, the Detroit Pistons were sufficient. Not good. Not bad. Just passable. The real question is whether they could do better next season. That starts with what they would do in the summertime.

Offseason

Now, there have been teams that just got so much better this summer just as much as there have been teams that just got so much worse. When you look at Detroit, you can’t help but shrug.

Props to them for going for the long-term project in Sekou Doumbouya. The Guinean native has a raw skill set that has garnered comparisons to Pascal Siakam. Given his raw age, don’t expect him to get much playing time right away. If the Pistons play the long-term game with Sekou, they should be optimistic about his future.

Not be a broken record here, but outside of the draft, the Pistons did fine this offseason. They added some nice players when you look at how much they paid for them. They didn’t get any world-beaters, but none of their moves would be classified as dumb.

First, they traded Jon Leuer for Tony Snell. A solid move. Leuer wasn’t doing much besides taking up space in the cap, and it wasn’t too long ago that Snell was valued rotation player on the Bucks. He’s overpaid, but he does have a solid track record and was forced out of Milwaukee’s rotation because they had guys who were better than him. Now that he’s on the Pistons, it’s feasible that he returns to the player he was in 2017.

Then there’s Derrick Rose. Rose was fantastic in the sixth man role he played in Minnesota and doesn’t have big shoes to fill since he’s replacing Ish Smith. His newly-minted three-pointer should give the league’s 21st-rated offense another potent option. For $7.5 million a year, the 2011 MVP is a good value addition.

Then there’s Markieff Morris, who for all intents and purposes should be a good third big to put behind Blake and Andre. Tim Frazier is an adequate fifth guard. Christian Wood is someone who could be turning heads should he be given the opportunity.

All in all, they could have done a lot worse, but they haven’t really done a whole lot to improve on where they are.

PLAYERS IN: Derrick Rose, Markieff Morris, Tony Snell, Tim Frazier, Sekou Doumbouya, Deividas Sirvydis, Jordan Bone (two-way), Louis King (two-way), Christian Wood

PLAYERS OUT: Wayne Ellington, Ish Smith, Glenn Robinson III, Jon Leuer, Jose Calderon, Zaza Pachulia

What’s Next

The word fine has been mentioned a lot in this article because frankly, that’s what the Pistons are. Just fine. Ironically, being just fine in the NBA is not fine. Basketball Purgatory is the worst possible situation to be in. You’re not going anywhere near the championship, and you’re most likely not getting a franchise cornerstone in the draft following a merely okay season.

Following what was one of his best seasons as a pro, it’s clear that the remainder of Blake Griffin’s prime should not be wasted. Hence, the pressure’s on the Pistons to choose between building the best possible core around Blake or trade him while his value is at its absolute highest. They can’t be just in the playoff hunt year-in and year-out with this squad.

The one upside is that Detroit will have plenty of cap space next summer. The downside? It’s one of the weakest free agent classes we’ve seen in quite some time. DeMar DeRozan and Paul Millsap would make things better, but how much better?

The fact remains that the Pistons haven’t won a playoff game in over a decade. They could roll with this core and get over that hump, but if that’s all they accomplish, then it wouldn’t really be worth it.

If the NBA is to see some real “DEE-TROIIIIIIT BASKETBALL!” in the near future, then more changes should definitely be in order.

OFFSEASON GRADE: C+