5 Biggest Takeaways from the Detroit Pistons' 1st Half of the Season
An up-and-down first half of the 2014-15 season has taught the rest of the NBA many things about the Detroit Pistons.
Though a new coach and a retooled roster brought optimism to the start of the campaign, it began with losses in 23 of the first 28 games. At that point, team president and head coach Stan Van Gundy waived forward Josh Smith and the two years and $27 million remaining on his contract beyond this season.
The whole outlook immediately turned 180 degrees, and the Pistons rattled off seven consecutive wins and 11 of 14 overall. They looked like a different team, playing the best stretch of basketball the franchise had seen in years.
But a cloud was cast over that success when Brandon Jennings went down with an injury against the Milwaukee Bucks. When he announced that he would miss six to nine months with a torn left Achilles, the trajectory of the season changed yet again.
Plenty of question marks surround the team now, but we still learned a lot from these wild first three months.
5. Andre Drummond Is Not Yet a Star
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After averaging 13.5 points and 13.2 rebounds in just his second NBA season and winning a gold medal with Team USA at the 2014 FIBA World Cup, Andre Drummond looked poised to take a major leap in 2014-15.
Things haven't gone quite as expected.
Drummond's per-minute scoring and rebounding stats are up slightly from last season, but his field-goal percentage is down 12.5 points from 2013-14. He is also fouling and turning the ball over more frequently.
After a lackluster November, it looked like Drummond had turned the corner in December when he averaged 15.6 points and 14 rebounds while shooting 55.3 percent. But all of those marks have come back down in January.
Some of Drummond's decline in shooting percentage is due to a change in his offensive role. In his third season, he is being asked to create his own shot more often on the block. According to NBA.com's tracking data, 79.5 percent of his shot attempts in 2013-14 came after zero dribbles. That has dropped to 64.9 percent this season.
Despite adjusting to that change, Drummond's play is simply inconsistent. During some games, he makes incredible plays on both ends of the court. In others, he fails to make an impact at all.
Drummond has been a solid player this season, and his massive potential has not disappeared. But this has not been the All-Star-worthy campaign that many expected from him coming into the season.
4. Detroit Needs to Re-Sign Greg Monroe
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The release of Smith opened up both the room and the minutes necessary for Greg Monroe to experience a rejuvenation in his fifth season.
He saw increases in both his points and assists per game in each of his first three years before Smith signed as a free agent. But with Smith on the roster, Monroe's role changed, and he generally seemed uncomfortable on the floor. His numbers regressed in 2013-14, and he appeared to hit a proverbial wall.
When Monroe and the Pistons failed to agree on a contract extension during the summer, his disappointing fourth season seemed to be a concern for Detroit.
Now just months from unrestricted free agency, Monroe has bounced back in a big way.
According to Basketball-Reference.com, his player efficiency rating is up 2.6 points from last season, and he is averaging more points and rebounds on a per-minute basis. He has also gotten to the line at a higher rate and has knocked down more freebies when he gets there—from 65.7 percent in 2013-14 to 76.7.
Monroe is still a bit of an awkward fit down low: He's built like a center and scores on the block, but he can't block shots or cover mobile big men on the perimeter. Drummond can cover for him defensively, but until one of them develops an outside shot, the paint will be overcrowded when they share the court.
Regardless, Monroe is one of the best under-25 big men in the NBA and a true low-post scorer. He wants a max contract, and after using the stretch provision on Smith, the Pistons will have $30 million or more in cap space this summer.
With big cap increases in the near future because of the NBA's new television deal, re-signing Monroe is a no-brainer. And with the ability to offer Monroe more money than any other team because they control his Bird rights, the Pistons should have the upper hand this summer. There is no excuse for not bringing him back.
3. The Jury Is Still out on Brandon Jennings
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Even before his injury, Jennings was making it difficult to evaluate his long-term fit for the Pistons.
He was great in November, averaging more than 18 points and six assists and topping the first edition of the team power rankings. His play nosedived in December when he averaged less than 10 points while shooting 32.4 percent from the floor and a Smith-like 27.3 percent from outside.
Then, after Smith's release, Jennings was playing better than nearly any guard in the league. He averaged 20.9 points and 7.2 assists in 13 January games—during which the Pistons went 9-4.
So is he the player who can average 20 points per game while getting his teammates involved and hitting big shots? Or is he simply a streaky shooter and a below-average starting point guard?
Had Jennings not gone down, Van Gundy would have gotten several more months of time to evaluate his point guard—who is on the books for just one more year at $8.3 million. This coming offseason's moves would have been better-informed by that extra data.
Instead, Van Gundy has just three months of sporadic play by Jennings under his tutelage to examine, and now he has to weigh potential lasting effects of an Achilles tear when considering his future. At this point, there is no clear answer as to whether the Pistons' long-term answer at point guard is already on the roster.
2. The Pistons Are Better Without Josh Smith
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There are numerous reasons why the Pistons have played better since Christmas, but there is also no way to deny that they are a better team because Smith is no longer on the roster.
In a vacuum, he is a talented player. He is an above-average athlete who can defend multiple positions. He finishes well inside the paint, even if he is no longer elite offensively down low. And his ability to handle the ball and distribute from the power forward position is a valuable asset.
But he just didn't fit well with the Pistons.
He was a power forward who was pushed to the 3 because Drummond and Monroe were both on the roster. Smith averaged the most shots on the team, yet he made less than 40 percent of them—and only 24.3 percent of his threes.
That lack of range allowed opposing defenses to sag off him and clog the paint. That made the court smaller for the rest of the offense.
Without Smith, Van Gundy has played Jonas Jerebko and newly acquired Anthony Tolliver significant minutes at power forward. They both have shot over 37 percent from the arc this year for Detroit. Even if they are less talented than Smith, their shooting has improved the Pistons' court balance significantly.
Beyond the X's and O's, there is no question that the demeanor of the team has improved significantly since Smith's departure. It started in that first win against the Indiana Pacers: Players were running the court, hustling to loose balls, cheering for one another and, most importantly, acting like they liked each other.
Smith wasn't necessarily a detriment to the locker room, but when he left, it felt like a weight was lifted from the team The Pistons played more freely, and the court had better balance and spacing. They simply started winning games.
It is hard to argue with the results.
1. Stan Van Gundy Has a Vision
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When Van Gundy was hired in the offseason, he was viewed as a major coup for the Pistons, who had not made the playoffs since 2009. He had one of the best winning percentages of any coach in NBA history and had made the NBA Finals with the Orlando Magic. He would certainly right the ship in Detroit.
Then he began the season 5-23.
After releasing Smith, articles appeared with titles such as "Detroit's Sinking, Stan Van Gundy Isn't Helping" by The Washington Post's Michael Lee. It seemed like he was on the verge of losing the locker room and that he may have lost the touch he had in Orlando.
That was short-sighted.
Van Gundy released Smith to put more shooting on the court and to improve the team chemistry. He accomplished both goals. In the offseason, he signed five perimeter players to improve Detroit's outside shooting. It shouldn't be a surprise that the Pistons are 14-10 when their biggest free-agent find—Jodie Meeks—has been healthy.
In Orlando, Van Gundy often surrounded center Dwight Howard with four players capable of shooting from beyond the arc. With his offseason signings, the release of Smith and the trade for Tolliver, Van Gundy is finally getting to do that in Detroit.
For the first time since Chauncey Billups was traded, the Pistons appear to have an identity and a plan in place for returning to winning form. And Van Gundy is the one to thank.
All records and statistics accurate through January 27, 2014, and from NBA.com unless otherwise noted. Salary information courtesy of ShamSports.com.
Jakub Rudnik covers the Detroit Pistons as a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter.
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