NBA Season Preview 2018-19: Is there room for Blake and Andre?

The Pistons shook up their roster and the middle of the Eastern Conference a few days before the trade deadline last season when they pulled off a trade for Blake Griffin. At the time it looked like a sideways move, but also one that was worth the risk. Griffin hadn’t been able to get back to the player he’d been at his (mostly) healthy peak for the Clippers but he still had the potential to produce like one of the 10 or 15 best players in the NBA. With the Pistons locked into a roster that hadn’t been able to secure a playoff spot, gambling on Griffin was one of their few ways out.

The biggest issue and the biggest question mark heading into 2018-19 is that Griffin interrupted a career-year by Andre Drummond, creating an overlap that will still need to be resolved for Detroit to get where they’d like to be.

Although he’s added range to his jumper, Griffin is still most effective working around the elbows, allowing him to use his quickness and finishing ability in the face-up game, or kicking it out to open shooters. However, this was also the area of the floor that helped Drummond take a leap. Previously an interior-only center, really only touching the ball for a post-up, rebound or alley-oop, Drummond was given the opportunity to work as an offensive fulcrum in the middle of the floor last season. Facilitating from the elbows as guards cut and curled around him, helped Drummond average career highs in both screen assists and potential assists. However, his elbow touches and those assist numbers were cut nearly in half when Griffin joined the roster.

Having Griffin on the floor essentially relegates Drummond back to his DeAndre Jordan-esque role as a rebounder and rim-runner. Reggie Jackson is no Chris Paul but that recipe worked for the Clippers and if Detroit can get some stronger guard and wing play it’s reasonable to think that they can bounce back into the Eastern Conference playoffs.

One of the other advantages here is that, since Drummond has had at least half a season’s worth of experience in that role, Dwane Casey could potentially look to stagger Griffin and Drummond more, using Griffin as a small ball center and making sure that there is always at least one big on the floor capable of facilitating from the elbows.

Of course, it presents some challenges as well. Moving forward, this is going to be a sacrifice for Drummond and if the team or Griffin struggles it remains to be seen how he’ll respond. He has supposedly been working on his 3-point shooting this summer as well (we’ll cross that bridge if and when we actually come to it) but for a player who seemed to enjoy stretching his skillset, it may be a mental adjustment to end up back in a more restricted box.