If anyone needs more evidence of why having Andre Drummond and Derrick Rose as the veterans alongside a Pistons youth movement, today’s Martin Luther King Day matinee was a great example.
The duo were at their most undisciplined worsts, showing exactly the mentality you don’t want your players to come to the game with.
Rose loves his unpredictable play, so unpredictable that even he doesn’t know what he’s going to do when he leaves the ground. Well...you know, that’s not really the best way to run an offense. Rose is talented enough to have carved a career out of it, and still has enough left in the gas tank for a solid season this year. But it also makes for duds and today was a dud.
More noteworthy was Andre Drummond. He may have turned in the worst 18 point, 16 rebound, 3 assist, 4 steal, and 2 block game of all time. It’s such a stat stuffing feat that Basketball Reference’s Game Index doesn’t provide enough fields for the filter. The 9 turnovers and 15-19 shooting line for the Wizards centers Thomas Bryant and Ian Mahinmi...just wow.
Now, to be fair, I didn’t have a problem with two of his nine turnovers. One was an offensive goaltending call that was more of a bad lob from Bruce Brown, one was from Rose delivering the ball too him after he was too deep (though both are a symptom of Drummond being too focal of a point in the offense). But these seven:
I’d be curious to hear anyone tell me about how this was what the coach actually wanted to see, what he/she designed the offense to look like. That this was their idea. Not the guy whose previous coach designed a post up heavy offense with him despite being a speaker at the Sloan Conference for advanced basketball analytics. But no, I should be honest - I’m not actually interested in hearing that. I’d just be more interested in someone actually trying it.
On a separate note, here’s Dwane Casey’s reaction after Drummond’s seventh turnover of the night, a spot where he picked up his dribble after being forced into the corner on an iso attempt:
I feel you, coach.
Oh, then there was the other veteran presence of Marcus Morris. He got ejected for a cheap head shot in the fourth quarter against Davis Bertans, which is the photo of this post.
Late edit about that photo:
But most importantly - did we all know that Davis Bertans has a Tommy Caldwell finger, or am I only just now finding out about this?
— Steve Hinson (@Shinons8) January 21, 2020
It was a poor game for the young guys, but that’s because it was basically the Rose and Drummond show offensively. Rose had a usage percentage of 32 percent, Drummond of 27 percent. Svi Mykhailiuk was aggressive looking for his shot, but cooled off from his hot streak. Sekou Doumbouya was mostly forgotten about.
It was a rough game for Sekou. He got into a few end of clock possessions that were low percentage looks, but even his wide open ones were just not there. But after this one, Casey pulled him and Sekou didn’t get any fourth quarter minutes:
Rightfully so. Sekou’s veteran presence tells him that all that matters is putting points on the board. Doesn’t matter how efficiently, doesn’t matter how it contributes to the offense, doesn’t matter the opposing side’s impact if it fails. For some franchises, pointz still reigns supreme.
But Casey squashed that shit.
That’s the reason why so many young players who interacted with Casey early in their careers was successful. DeMar DeRozan, Kyle Lowry, Jonas Valanciunas, Cory Joseph, James Johnson, Ed Davis, Terrence Ross, Quincy Acy, Delon Wright, Pascal Siakam, Jakob Poltl, OG Anunoby, Fred VanVleet. Even Rudy Gay, who eventually went from problematic talented guy to really helpful role player.
Casey’s a good coach who can be helpful for Sekou’s development. The veterans are bad influences who don’t help their growth and need to be traded asap. That’s the tldr of this recap.
ROLL CALL:
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