How to Make Brandon Jennings, Josh Smith Really Hum for Detroit Pistons

The Detroit Pistons have had an up-and-down start to the season, and they'll need improved play from their biggest offseason acquisitions in order to have more consistency going forward.

Josh Smith and Brandon Jennings showed just how much they could bring to the table in a win against the Sacramento Kings. The pair combined for 32 points, 16 assists, 14 rebounds, six steals and four blocks, helping the Pistons snap a four-game losing streak.

Unfortunately, not all their performances have been that exceptional, as the Pistons have struggled to find on-court chemistry with eight new players. Coach Maurice Cheeks will need to make some adjustments to get the most out of both guys.

*All statistics compiled from NBA.com and are accurate as of Saturday, Nov. 16 unless otherwise noted.

 

Brandon Jennings

Despite missing the first two regular-season games and nearly all of preseason due to a fractured jaw, Jennings has had a relatively strong start to the season. His 18.92 PER ranks No. 13 among all 67 point guards, and his raw statistics are very similar to those of his final season with the Milwaukee Bucks and his career averages.

	PPG	APG	RPG	Steals	Turnovers
2013-14	17.5	6.2	3.7	2.3	2.5
2012-13	17.5	6.5	3.1	1.6	2.5
Career	17.0	5.7	3.4	1.5	2.4

Where Jennings has struggled has been shooting the ball, particularly from the outside. He's hit just 25.8 percent of his three-point attempts thus far, nearly 10 percent less than his career average (35.2 percent). On all of his shots from at least 10 feet, he has made just 30 percent (18-of-60); in 2012-13 he made 38.5 percent of such shots.

While those numbers may just be the result of a shooting slump, Cheeks can help Jennings by putting him in positions where he's most productive.

Jennings can, at times, be a little trigger happy, but he is very efficient running the pick-and-roll—one of the reasons the Pistons acquired him.

"We think he does a pretty good job running the pick-and-roll," general manager Joe Dumars told Grantland this offseason. "We like the fact that when he comes off the pick-and-roll, that he puts pressure on you to defend his jumper and defend his ability to create. That's a skill set we needed."

According to Synergy Sports (subscription), he currently ranks ninth in the NBA in points per possession (.94) as a pick-and-roll ball handler, shooting 43.8 percent in such situations (21-of-48). He's only shooting 32.1 percent in all other plays (17-of-53). When Jennings is on the court, the Pistons need to run the pick-and-roll as often as possible.

He's also been very good in the open court, where his speed allows him to beat opposing defenders down the court. According to Synergy, he's shooting 55.6 percent (10-of-18) in transition, including 4-of-10 from the arc.

The Pistons are averaging just 95.6 possessions per 48 minutes, playing at the 10th-slowest pace in the league. With the number of athletic players they have on the roster, there's no reason they shouldn't try to run more often when Jennings is on the court.

Josh Smith 

The transition to small forward has been far from seamless for Smith on both ends of the court.

With Andre Drummond and Greg Monroe occupying the post, Smith's been relegated to the perimeter. When he's gotten into the paint, he's shot very well—68.4 percent from within five feet—but the problem is that he's settling for long jumpers at the highest rate of his career.

Smith is currently attempting 5.8 three-pointers per game, making just 28.3 percent of them—exactly his career average. Of his 114 field-goal attempts, 40.4 percent have been threes. In 2012-13, just 17.3 percent of his field goals were threes; for his career, the rate drops to 11.2 percent.

There's simply no justification for Smith to be letting the threes fly at such a high rate—only 10 players have shot more per game than he has. Cheeks must reign him in and get Smith higher-percentage shots.

As with Jennings, Smith can be a devastating player when running the floor. According to Synergy, he had seven transition opportunities against the Kings. His stat line during those plays: 5-of-5 from the field, 16 points and four drawn fouls.

Smith told the Detroit Free Press that solid defense leading to fast-break opportunities was instrumental to the team's first win in 12 days.

"We (were) plugged in, we made some key stops and we were able to get out in transition and get some lay-ups," he said. "I think that’s what generated everything else."

He's shooting 80 percent from the field for the season in transition, but he's averaged only two such opportunities in all other games this season. He averaged 3.4 last season, shooting 69.2 percent. Just like with Jennings, Smith would benefit greatly if the Pistons would pick up the pace going forward.

The other issue with Smith's transition to the perimeter has been that he's been a sieve defensively. According to 82games.com, he has given up a PER of 28.7 to opposing small forwards, who are scoring 25.7 points per 36 minutes against him. Trevor Ariza, Paul George and Kevin Durant had arguably their best games of the season against the Pistons (although Smith spent less time on Durant than on the others).

Player	FG	3PT	Points	Season Average
Trevor Ariza	8-14	6-11	28	14.8
Paul George	12-18	4-8	31	24.6
Kevin Durant	9-15	2-3	37	29.3

When Smith was acquired, many thought he could be a perimeter stopper for the Pistons. If he no longer has that ability, they can't justify playing him over 20 minutes per game on the wing, especially with his offensive struggles. 

There's still plenty of season left to be played, but unless Smith can be better incorporated into the offense and can defend at a league-average level, this three big man experiment may not last.

*Jakub Rudnik covers the Detroit Pistons for B/R. Follow him on Twitter. 

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