Pistons offseason preview: Blake Griffin needs help, but it won't be coming anytime soon

Sean Deveney

Pistons offseason preview: Blake Griffin needs help, but it won't be coming anytime soon image

Big issue 1: The Pistons got 75 games out of Blake Griffin this season, which included a return to the All-Star game and averages of 24.5 points, 7.5 rebounds and 5.4 assists. But in the final month of the season, Griffin experienced soreness in his left knee, which has been problematic dating back to the surgery he had on his left kneecap in 2009, which cost him that season. He was out for a long stretch with a knee injury in 2017 as well.

Griffin missed some key games late in the year as well as the first two games of the playoffs because of that knee issue. His health will be an ongoing concern through his Pistons tenure — he has three years and $110 million left on his contract, so it’s an especially significant concern.

The Pistons operate best when Griffin is on the floor working out of the high post, with capable shooters around him to take advantage of his passing ability and Andre Drummond down low for rebounds.

The team put a lot of pressure on Griffin, though, to overextend himself in the early part of the season, when the shooters seemed to be in a teamwide slump. The burden was reduced as players like Reggie Jackson, Luke Kennard and Langston Galloway shook off early struggles starting around mid-January.

Griffin is the hub of the wheel, though. He’s got to get — and stay — healthy for the Pistons to have a chance at moving up in the East.

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Big issue 2: The Pistons’ season splits are stark. This was a pretty good team in the final 42 games, and a not-so-good bunch in the first 40 games. As management proceeds, the determination must be made whether the second 42 games are indicative of what this team can be going forward, or if the Pistons simply are the mediocre, .500-ish team their final numbers represent.

In the first 40 games, Detroit was 17-23, eighth-worst in the NBA. The Pistons shot 43.5 percent from the field and 32.7 percent from the 3-point line, making only 11.1 per game.

They were better defensively in the final 42 games, but it was the shift in offense that paved the way to their 24-18 finish. The Pistons’ shooters came alive, and their 3-point percentage was 36.7, making 13.0 per game. That took pressure off Griffin and, at long last, Jackson — the third-highest paid player on the team — could start carrying his weight.

Jackson had an ankle injury last year that kept undergoing setbacks during the summer. He was not completely healthy during the first part of the year, but if his numbers in the final 42 games — 15.9 points, 4.2 assists, 39.8 percent on 3s — can be duplicated next year, the Pistons will have a real shot at a return to the playoffs.  

Free-agent outlook: Let’s call it bleak. The Pistons will be over the cap to start the offseason and have no choice but to wait out next season, when contracts like those of Jackson, Galloway and Jon Leuer come off the books.

Two of their own free agents are probably worth keeping, if possible: Ish Smith and Wayne Ellington. Smith (8.9 points, 3.6 assists) showed himself to be as valuable a backup point guard as just about any in the league — the Pistons were 33-23 when he played and 8-18 when he was out with an injury. That’s what happens when Jose Calderon is your other option.

Ellington was a post-deadline free-agent pickup from Miami. He averaged 12.0 points, making 37.3 percent of his 3s in 28 games. The Pistons badly need shooters, and Ellington is one.

The young folks: Coach Dwane Casey has stressed the importance of developing the Pistons’ young players. Given their cap situation and the money owed to Griffin, Drummond and Jackson, there’s good reason for that. This team needs the young guys to get better if the record is to get better.

After a tough start to the year, with his role not quite set, Luke Kennard came on in the back half of the season and wound up with solid numbers off the bench: 9.7 points, 43.8 percent shooting, 39.4 percent 3-point shooting. He was more confident as the season went on, a better rebounder and, while still not great, at least a passable defender.

The draft history of Casey’s predecessor, Stan Van Gundy, is not so good, but Kennard, at least, will be a useful piece going forward.

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Rookie Bruce Brown, who will soon be 23 (like Kennard), got significant playing time this season and showed himself to be a challenged offensive player who plays intense perimeter defense. But the Pistons can’t keep rolling Brown onto the floor if he is going to shoot 39.8 percent from the floor and 25.8 percent from the 3-point line, as he did this year. He’s still a 3 short of being a 3-and-D guy.

Fellow rookies Khyri Thomas (a second-round pick who came from the 76ers) and Svi Mykhailiuk (a second-rounder who came from the Lakers) didn’t see the floor much this season — combined, they played 215 minutes and made all of 24 shots. This will be an important summer for both.

Also of interest is Thon Maker, another player acquired at the deadline. Three seasons in, it’s clear that Maker, who is 22, will not be the next Giannis Antetokounmpo. He is a big guy with talent, but the Pistons need to figure out whether he has the basketball IQ to eliminate his many mistakes and become a contributor.

Kennard appears to be a rotation player for next season. If Casey can get at least one more productive rotation player out of that group of youngsters — Maker, Mykhailiuk, Thomas,  Brown — it’ll keep the Pistons’ playoff hopes alive.

Wait till next year: Wait till summer 2020, most likely. Next season should be much like this season, with Pistons backers eagerly checking on the health of Griffin, Jackson’s shooting under the microscope, the depth a big question mark, fears that Drummond’s game is obsolete and fears that 41-41 is about the team’s ceiling.

There will be cap space in 2020, though, and there will be a guy to watch out for when that time comes — Warriors star Draymond Green. The Pistons have long coveted the Michigan native and are sure to make a run at him when free agency hits in 2020.

Sean Deveney

Sean Deveney is the national NBA writer for Sporting News and author of four books, including Facing Michael Jordan. He has been with Sporting News since his internship in 1997.