Rebuilt Pistons Position Andre Drummond, Reggie Jackson for Huge Seasons

This is Stan Van Gundy's dream. 

When the mustachioed coach accepted an offer to both run the show for the Detroit Pistons and serve as the president of basketball operations two summers ago, it was a chance for him to bring the Orlando Magic model with him to the Motor City. Just as he once surrounded Dwight Howard with a bevy of shooters, he decided to treat Andre Drummond as his new team's centerpiece. 

Now in Year 2 of his tenure with the Pistons, Van Gundy has the system he desires firmly in place. The offseason was spent acquiring forwards who could shoot—Ersan Ilyasova, Marcus Morris and Stanley Johnson, most notably—and the results have been palpable during the 2-0 start to Detroit's 2015-16 campaign. Shockingly, it's the first time in six years this team has been two games over .500, as noted by NBA.com's Noah Trister.

But the Pistons haven't just thrived because of their four-out, one-in replica of those old Magic teams. They've also seen Reggie Jackson pick up where he left off during the second half of last season, which is equally positive news. 

Taking Advantage of a New Situation

Van Gundy acquired the dynamic guard via a midseason trade in 2014-15, and though it took Jackson a few games to settle in with his new teammates, he exploded once he got comfortable. All of a sudden, he wasn't always looking for his own shot and started playing at an All-Star level:

Team	PPG	RPG	APG	TS%	PER
Oklahoma City Thunder	12.8	4.0	4.3	51.1	15.6
Detroit Pistons	17.6	4.7	9.2	51.1	19.8

The scoring ability wasn't what changed. Jackson kept his head up and realized he was being asked to function as the leader of an offense, not just a secondary scorer alongside superstars such as Russell Westbrook. 

Though he's recorded only nine assists during his first two outings in 2015-16, the confidence is still there. He's playing with loads of conviction and controlling the pace of games, probing a defense in isolation at the start of most sets but willingly shifting into a secondary action when an efficient look isn't there. 

The word "forcing" now appears to be a rapidly disappearing part of his DNA. 

Allen Einstein/Getty Images

In a big win over the Atlanta Hawks to open the season, Jackson recorded 15 points, eight rebounds and five dimes while taking only 10 shots from the field. He followed that up with a performance against the suffocating Utah Jazz defense that resulted in 19 points, two boards and four assists—this time going 7-of-14 from the field.

Much of the difference has stemmed from the Pistons system, as it's giving him plenty of space to take advantage of his immense driving ability. For a perfect example, just take a gander at this and-1 floater he drained in the second quarter against Utah:

Not only did Jackson execute the pick-and-roll perfectly with Drummond, tossing up a deft floater to finish the play, but he demonstrated what the Pistons can do with so many floor-spacers on the court. 

Thanks to the presences of Stanley Johnson, Marcus Morris and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, the entire Utah defense was spread out and left defending the perimeter. Mind you, this is a Quin Snyder defense he was working against—a unit that prides itself on protecting the rim and packing the paint with big, lanky defenders. It knew that Jackson not only can find an open shooter if someone collapses to help, but that these days, he will make the proper pass in that situation. 

This is an entirely different look than what was happening during the 2014-15 campaign, even though Jackson was successful as a stat-hoarding individual. Just look at how many more Washington Wizards defenders challenged him on this pick-and-roll with Drummond:

That's the difference having shooters can make. 

Unfortunately, the Pistons lost a key one in Jodie Meeks, who suffered a Jones fracture against the Jazz, according to Aaron McMann of MLive.com. That will further thin out a bench that has already been struggling. But they're still brimming over with players who can drain shots from the perimeter, and we've already seen the impact that can have on Jackson's game. 

Drummond Dominating the Glass

As Bleacher Report's Joel Cordes noted below, their presence also aids Drummond, who can spend more time around the painted area, seeking out offensive rebounds, put-back opportunities and possessions where he attempts to use some developing—but still very limited—back-to-the-basket moves.

Having space around an interior player such as this 22-year-old big man is of paramount importance, and he's had more than ever during the early going. 

Drummond hasn't been particularly efficient from the field through his first two appearances, but he's overpowering opponents and forcing them into foul trouble, averaging 10.5 free-throw attempts per game thus far. And in a shocking development for a player coming off a season in which he made only 38.9 percent of his freebies, he's knocked down two-thirds of those tries. 

The thing is, the center doesn't even have to score in order to have a big season. He's posted 18 points in each of his two opening outings, but that's basically gravy to the Pistons. Drummond is a developing defensive presence and will also suck a defense in, since teams need a body on him at all times.

Leave him alone, and he'll corral every carom imaginable. Of course, that's rather problematic when the shooters are also spreading out a defense and forcing the opposition into only throwing a single box-out at him.

Allen Einstein/Getty Images

"When it comes to rebounding, whoa," legendary center Dikembe Mutombo told Detroit Bad Boys' Packey after watching Drummond record 19 boards in the season-opening victory over the Hawks. "He surprised me. I was like, 'Who is that kid?' To see a talented young man going after the loose ball like that? If he can stay hungry...he's going to be good. He needs to stay hungry."

An offensive rebound is always a great result, simply because it creates another possession for a team that just drew iron. But Drummond's have been particularly important to the Detroit cause because they've led to such easy points. 

In two games, he's recorded a staggering 10 of them, and the majority have been directly followed by beneficial results: 

Number	Opponent	Result
1	Hawks	Put-back from four feet
2	Hawks	Put-back from five feet
3	Hawks	Put-back from three feet
4	Hawks	Put-back dunk
5	Hawks	Missed put-back from two feet
6	Hawks	Tipped to Ersan Ilyasova; put-back from three feet
7	Hawks	Missed put-back from two feet
8	Hawks	Kentavious Caldwell-Pope missed spot-up jumper
9	Jazz	Put-back dunk
10	Jazz	Missed put-back from two feet

Thus far, that means the Pistons have scored 120 points per 100 possessions when Drummond records an offensive rebound, and it's worth noting that the fifth listed board and subsequent miss was followed by the sixth rebound and a third-chance opportunity that led to Ilyasova's bucket.

Considering the Pistons have posted an offensive rating of "just" 106.4 through their first two games, these types of plays have had a rather large impact:

RealGM.com's Jonathan Tjarks expanded on what a luxury this can be for the Motor City: 

"

The nice thing about his skill-set is that it allows the Pistons to walk the line between crashing the offensive boards and getting back on defense because they can send just about everyone else back and give Drummond the space to do what he does best. If you don't get a body on him, he’s going to get the board pretty much every time.

The way he's able to play when operating in a 4-out offense means that the Pistons don't really have to run offense for him in order for him to put up huge stats. He can be an All-Star caliber player just by running to the rim, crashing the boards and catching lobs whenever one of the Detroit guards can get by their men.

"

All of a sudden, the Pistons look like a dangerous team in the Eastern Conference. 

Team on the Rise

Even without Meeks in the fold, they've got plenty of shooters at their disposal and should only receive a boost when Johnson shakes off the rookie jitters and becomes the player he looked like during exhibition season.

His presence will help the bench in particular, which has been the one negative during an otherwise sterling start to the 2015-16 campaign. 

Small-sample-size warnings abound, but according to my FATS metric (based on historical comparisons and explained in full here), the Pistons are currently playing like a team on pace to go 36-46. That number might not be as high as you expected, given the praiseworthy developments and unblemished records, but keep in mind that a number of confounding factors are in play here, dragging down the overall evaluation:

1. The Pistons will stop feeding Drummond in the post quite as often, and NBA.com's SportVU data shows that he's used 14 possessions already despite scoring a putrid 0.29 points per possession. 
2. "Our bench struggled," Van Gundy told the media after the Atlanta outing, via Packey. "And I like our bench. I think our bench will be good; just didn't have a good night tonight."
3. The strength of schedule should go down significantly after playing two likely playoff teams in the first two contests of the season. 

Even if the Pistons keep inexplicably feeding Drummond the ball and playing up the weakest part of his game, the bench continues squandering leads earned by the starters and Detroit somehow draws a ridiculously tough opponent each and every night, this organization will still be vastly improved.

Thirty-six victories may not be enough to sneak into the Eastern playoffs this year, but it would still represent a substantial stride forward for a young team that hasn't reached that mark since winning 39 games in 2008-09. 

Chances are those aspects will change, and the Pistons' offense will begin looking a bit less messy as time goes on. For as many positive developments as there have been, Jackson is still leaning upon jump-passes when he gets himself into a pickle far too often, and a plethora of new teammates are attempting to figure out the nuances of their positioning. 

Despite rostering a number of holdovers from last season, this isn't a squad that boasts a ton of continuity. And that makes the 2-0 record all the more promising. 

Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

Van Gundy's first year in charge was a relatively rough one, but he stayed true to his vision. Now, after an offseason of work, he's closer to proving how successful it could be. 

With Jackson, the Pistons have their slashing, driving guard to run the show. In Caldwell-Pope, Ilyasova, Morris and others, they have their floor-spacing wings and forwards that make the four-out system hum. In Drummond, they have a dominant interior presence whose finesse game should only improve on both ends of the floor. 

If you were sleeping on the Pistons, they now have enough of the right pieces to put together an alarm clock.

It's already ringing, and it's now time to wake up. 

All stats, unless otherwise indicated, are current heading into Oct. 29's games and come from Basketball-Reference.com and my own personal databases.

Adam Fromal covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter:@fromal09.