Will the Detroit Pistons ever win running offense through two bigs?

Watching the Golden State Warriors, Milwaukee Bucks, Portland Trailblazers, Houston Rockets & the Toronto Raptors shoot the lights out; I can’t help but wonder if the Detroit Pistons will ever become a contender once again running their offense through two big men?

The Detroit Pistons run their offense through Blake Griffin nearly exclusively when he’s on the court, as they should, but I wonder if they will ever become a contender again settling within tight buckets from Griffin & Drummond. The Bucks have the Greek freak, he’s not exactly a constant outside shooting threat, but like Blake, he can drain it enough to hold you accountable. The Bucks shot plenty of threes during the year; second most attempts in the East.

The Warriors need no introduction; maybe you are as sick of them as I am? The splash brothers teamed up with the leagues top player; in my opinion, Kevin Durant can beat you both outside and inside the arch. Both Houston and Portland run the offense through their guards. Toronto has, in my opinion, the second best player in the league in Kawhi Leonard who’s a forward but he might as well be considered a shooting guard.

Blake Griffin would not be guarding any of these guards, but he’d probably try and slow down Durant. Drummond clearly isn’t defending any of these guys, so it comes down to the wing position and guards. Although I have a love/hate relationship with Reggie Jackson, he’s nowhere close to being in the same conversation as these players. He simply makes to much money for the production he produces; he also struggles to stay healthy.

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The top two positions the Detroit Pistons will seek during the free agency period will be a point guard to split time with Reggie Jackson along with a wing player. The wing player will need to be an above average three-point shooter. Everyone would prefer the team land the best player available, but the salary cap won’t allow that to happen.

The ideal candidate would be former Piston Tobias Harris who was the main player in the deal that landed the team Blake Griffin. I feel the Pistons could use a Danny Green type player who’s an SG but can slide to SF easily enough in today’s’ league; he shot 45% from three this past year. His career average is .404. He’s set to become a free agent who averaged 10-million per season throughout his last deal. I don’t expect him to leave Toronto with the current success of the team.

Andre Drummond seems like the scapegoat, he posts up double-double after double-double but disappeared once again in the playoffs. The fanbase is split down the middle on the big man. He’s arguably the best rebounder in the NBA but a lot of those boards are his own missed shot within two feet–at times a put-back becomes challenging for the center.

Andre is a great rim protector and premier shot blocker, but merely an average defender in all other aspects of the game. The haters will focus on his lack of effort at times in his own end or his unwillingness to get back as quick as possible after a miss in the offensive zone. The same people turn a blind eye to his rebounding ability and offensive production. He’s the Matthew Stafford of the Detroit Pistons; the fanbase is split.

Next. Looking for Point Guards in Free Agency. dark

In 79 games this past season Drummond averaged 17.3 points per game & 15.6 boards. Blake Griffin averaged a career-high 24.5 points per game, to go with 7.5 boards, 5.4 assists in 75 games. Griffin was also 36% from three. Both posted incredible numbers but where did that get the Detroit Pistons? Perhaps the team should surround the pair with better outside shooters or maybe move Drummond and Jackson to clear cap space to build around Griffin.

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