AUBURN HILLS – The Rubik’s Cube is starting to show signs of being solved by the Pistons. Reggie Jackson is playing well, Andre Drummond is playing hard, Marcus Morris has emerged as a leader and Stan Van Gundy has all options at his fingertips.
The schedule is a tough nut, not because there are still 16 games to squeeze into 31 days so much as how the NBA distributed them. Nobody has more back to backs remaining than the Pistons with five – and of those five, all but one comes against an opponent that doesn’t play the previous night.
“We’ll really be challenged now the rest of the way,” Van Gundy said after Saturday’s 112-92 dismantling of New York. “We play 11 games in 18 days and then we get four days off after that, so the league didn’t do us any favors there. We’re going to be playing a lot of games and guys are going to be putting in a lot of minutes, so we’re going to need contributions from a lot of people.”
With that in mind and at the behest of his staff, Van Gundy expanded the rotation to 10 players in wins over Cleveland and New York to close a 3-1 week that also included a key win over Chicago. Especially in those back to backs, they’re trying to reduce the work load for players like Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Morris.
But the Pistons have a few things working in their favor, too. Their defense has stabilized after a mid-season dip, settling in as a top-10 unit, and since the All-Star break the Pistons have the NBA’s No. 9 ranked offense.
Some of that has been the recent spike in Reggie Jackson’s production. Jackson capped a strong week with a 19-point, eight-assist outing against New York after especially strong finishes in the wins over Chicago and Cleveland.
“There’s no question he’s playing better now,” Van Gundy said. “He’s more in his comfort zone. I think he’s more connected with his teammates now so that’s a good thing.”
“He’s playing downhill. He’s making the right passes,” Morris said. “He’s hitting open guys. He’s scoring the ball. He’s playing really well for us at a crucial time.”
As Jackson becomes a more efficient threat attacking the basket – the best barometer of his comfort level – Drummond’s impact surges, as well. The attention Jackson demands provides openings for Drummond, a shark to blood where loose balls around the rim are concerned.
The other thing that’s elevated Drummond’s play is notably more consistent effort. As with most young players, a missed shot or an unfavorable whistle often caused him to hang his hand and neglect to sprint back defensively. Those instances have been eliminated of late.
“I’m my toughest critic,” he said after the win over New York. “I don’t like missing shots or making mistakes. It’s my job to just shake it off, run back because there’s a whole ’nuther play to take care of. I’ve been doing a better job of not getting down on myself.”
Over the All-Star break, Drummond said, Van Gundy talked with him about how important it is that he help lead by playing consistently hard. The coaching staff has been delighted with how he’s responded.
“I know why I’m here and it’s to play hard each and every possession and give it my all. I didn’t really do a good job of that the first half of the season,” he said. “During All-Star break, he and I met and he really put everything on the table. I knew what I needed to do to make our team better and that’s what I’ve put forth these last couple of weeks.”
The Pistons have recaptured the resilience that marked their first two seasons under Van Gundy, showing the ability to come back from big deficits to win games. Making sure they don’t create those situations as often comes back to a more vigilant focus that is often an elusive quality in young teams. That was behind Van Gundy’s decision last week to approach Morris and Caldwell-Pope about relieving Van Gundy of bad cop duties every now and then and hold teammates accountable.
Why those two?
“Because they’d shown signs of being guys who would speak up,” Van Gundy said. “And they’re two guys – not saying they’re the only ones – you can really count on to bring pretty good effort and competitiveness themselves and that’s an absolute must if you’re going to say something to somebody else.”
With the Pistons trailing Cleveland 27-12 last week one night after losing at Indiana, Morris put his hand on Van Gundy’s shoulder during a late first-quarter timeout and told him, “I got this” – then laid in to his teammates.
“Y’all didn’t get to see it, but it was ugly,” Morris grinned. “Sometimes, you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do.
“They took it the way I hoped they would take it,” said Morris, who almost lost his voice after forcefully airing his opinion. “I didn’t talk down to anybody. I was just trying to motivate and get us right. … It was just boiling. I felt like we responded really, really, really well.”
He isn’t anticipating such admonitions becoming a regular thing, but the experience and the response have made him more secure in his leadership role. That’s a big step in the timeline of a young team’s development. So is Reggie Jackson’s return to form and Andre Drummond’s ability to honestly assess himself. The schedule sets down obstacles for the Pistons over the season’s final month, but they’ve not been as well equipped to handle them all season as they now appear.