NBA Daily: Pistons Face Tough Short and Long Term Reality

When the Detroit Pistons traded for Blake Griffin, they were in striking distance of earning a playoff seed in the Eastern Conference. At the time, the Pistons were 22-26 but had lost 9 of their previous 10 games just prior to making the deal for Griffin.

Adding Griffin seemed to give the Pistons the early jolt the team was looking for. Detroit won its first four games with Griffin on the roster and five in a row overall. In fact, after beating the Brooklyn Nets on February 7, the Pistons had secured a winning record (27-26).

However, since that point, the Pistons have collectively struggled and are now just 2-12 over their last 14 games. Detroit has several issues, most notably the ongoing absence of point guard Reggie Jackson and lack of three-point shooting, and are now at severe risk of missing the postseason. Perhaps even worse, the team has limited means to improve the roster around its core players moving forward with Griffin in the first-year of his five-year, $171 million contract.

This is a difficult reality for a franchise that traded Avery Bradley, Tobias Harris, Boban Marjanovic, a 2019 first-round pick and a 2019 second-round pick to the Clippers to acquire Griffin. However, it needs to be noted that while his efficiency numbers are a bit down, Griffin has been (more or less) producing statistically since arriving in Detroit.

Since joining the Pistons, Griffin is averaging 19.9 points, 6.7 rebounds and 5.6 assists per game while shooting 41.8 percent from the field and 31 percent from three-point range. These per-game statistics are near his career numbers and his assists are in fact up a bit, but his shooting percentages are concerning.

Griffin has maintained a 56 True Shooting percentage over his career and posted a career-high 58.3 True Shooting percentage in the 2013-14 season. However, that number has dipped down to 51.3 so far with the Detroit Pistons, which is partially due to his high-volume three-point shooting (5.3 attempts per game), taking less shots at the rim and struggling to finish at close distance — something that was not an issue earlier in his career. The more Griffin moves away from the basket and depends increasingly on his jumper, the less efficient his numbers will become. While Griffin should be given credit for adding a somewhat reliable three-point jumper to his offensive arsenal, he is becoming overly dependent on it, which could be related to a noticeable decline in his overall athleticism over the last few seasons.

Griffin has, however, displayed his notable playmaking abilities within Detroit’s offense and is averaging a healthy 5.6 assists per game. Griffin has been one of the better playmaking power forwards in the NBA since first entering the league and that skill has only become more refined with age. Unfortunately, Griffin’s role as an initiator and distributor has put a cap on Andre Drummond’s newly developed abilities to facilitate Detroit’s offense as a playmaker.

Drummond is averaging a career-high 3.3 assists per game this season and was routinely racking up four assists or more before the Griffin trade. However, over the last 13 games, Drummond has failed to register more than two assists in any single game – a streak that started right around the end of Detroit’s five-game winning streak when they first acquired Griffin. Part of the issue is that Drummond is now on the receiving end of scoring opportunities setup by Griffin, which keeps him posted close to the basket almost exclusively. Another factor is that without Bradley and Harris, the Pistons have few three-point shooters to space the floor and kick out to from the post area. This limits Drummond’s options in the rare instances that he is put in position to be a playmaker for Detroit’s offense. This expanding part of Drummond’s game provided optimism that he could take another step forward in his game and become a significant offensive contributor for Detroit. But if this part of his game is capped, it will become difficult for him to be a consistent offensive force considering his limitations in the post.

While the short term issues for the team are clear, it should be noted that Detroit has room for improvement in terms of chemistry considering how recently Griffin was integrated. Also, the return of Jackson should address some issues, such as playmaking distribution, shooting from beyond the arc and depth. However, after trading away draft picks, missing on a few notable prospects in the last few drafts and with limited financial flexibility moving forward, Detroit is going to need a Toronto Raptors level jump internally to have any hope of being a relevant playoff contender in the coming years. That is a lot to hope for considering the current talent surrounding Detroit’s core players and the fact that Griffin has a notable injury history and is more likely to decline than improve on his current play in the years to come.

For his part, Griffin is optimistic about his team and its potential.

“There are definitely glimpses,” Griffin said earlier this week. “[We’ve] put together quarters, halves, (even) three quarters, but not 48 minutes.

“We have a lot of guys that can go. Once we put everything together, once we get healthy, I like our team.”

Detroit took a gamble earlier this year in trading several assets away for Griffin. In some ways, the deal made sense. However, with the team struggling despite Griffin putting up relatively solid numbers and with limited means to improve the roster after this season, it’s clear that there are going to be issues both in the short term and long term for Detroit.