“CEL-E-BRA-TION!”
After pushing the past two Eastern Conference finalists to the wall in consecutive days, and a well-deserved three-day respite, the scene shifts for our Atlanta Hawks to Little Caesars Arena. It’s the new, palatial, 20,000-plus-seat intown home of the Detroit Pistons (7:00 PM Eastern, Fox Sports Southeast, Fox Sports Detroit), the second-best team currently in the Eastern Conference.
They’ve got a lively, well-known, coach-exec in Stan Van Gundy guiding the ship. They’ve broken out the blocks with a nice 8-3 record, including three in a row during this five-game homestand to stretch their home mark to 5-1. Fans are treated to cushier seats, clearer sightlines, a WiFi network modeled after Cobb County’s SunTrust Park, three Pizza! Pizza! Booths, a bar featuring a PB&J burger, and a Kid Rock-themed eatery.
There’s franchise-face Andre Drummond, still just 24 years of age, leading the NBA with a career-high 15.2 RPG. And SVG’s biggest heist, 25-year-old forward Tobias Harris (acquired in 2016 for the low-low price of Brandon Jennings and Atlanta’s Ersan Ilyasova), is playing like an All-Star reserve candidate (career-highs of 20.0 PPG, 3.0 3FGs/game, 47.1 3FG%, 88.2 FT%).
All of this fresh and successful news about the team leads to one, burning, smoldering question. Where the heck is everybody?
Only Atlanta (tickets sold at 76.8% of capacity) has had less success thus far in filling up their NBA stadium (77.2%). And everybody already knows the deal with the Hawks (2-9), who are simply happy for now to give it The Old College Try every time they’re on the floor. The Pistons express a desire to win, not just compete, and pretty much are doing that. With all the hype rightfully directed toward LeBron and the Greek Freak, Detroit is looking down on both their teams in the Central Division. Yet, everyone is taking potshots at the rows of empty seats in the new arena. So, what gives?
While it did go through some rough times, this stretch of Woodward Way never quite achieved the outright dystopia that RoboCop filmmakers depicted thirty years ago. While not nearly as spread-out as the team’s former expanses in Pontiac and Auburn Hills, the new digs in Midtown Detroit come with ample parking. Plus, there are streetcar and people-mover options for those who like the idea of their car windows remaining intact. So, access and safety are not big problems, even for suburbanite hoop fans that must now shift their gameday commuting patterns in ways they haven’t consistently done since the Pistons bailed from Cobo Arena in 1978.
The Red Wings of hockey fame claim they’re selling out every game, although the new whiz-bang attractions around the concourse have made it tough to keep fans in their arena-bowl seats. Here, the Hawks’ would-be ticket-buyers gripe about the lack of a championship legacy, yet here’s a franchise that won two NBA titles before MJ, and one more afterward, that can’t lean on that history to sell out games (To that point, Chicago remains #1 in NBA attendance… yes, those Bulls).
Lady Gaga and Kid Rock have packed the place to the rafters as recently as this past Tuesday. So maybe it is simply that Detroit, unlike Chicago, but maybe like Atlanta, is holding out for somebody in basketball that’s worthy of top-billing. And they’re not convinced that That Guy is already here.
Detroit is hoping to reach the NBA Playoffs for just the second time in eight seasons. They’ve dipped into the mid-to-low-level lottery barrel in six of the past eight drafts, and have plucked a single All-Star-quality apple (Andre Drummond) and one other starter (Stanley Johnson: career-best 40.3 FG%, not probable to play with a hip flexor strain) in the small-p process. The young remnant first-rounders have yet to show that they’re Hot-n-Ready, as second-year forward Henry Ellenson joins his fellow Wonder Bread Twin, rookie wing Luke Kennard, along the third string of the roster.
Detroit let Aron Baynes bolt for Beantown, and the Celtics also grabbed Marcus Morris in exchange for defensive stalwart Avery Bradley. They let Kentavious Caldwell-Pope walk to Tinseltown, making more room for Bradley while backing him up with more offensive-mided wings in Langston Galloway, Kennard, and Reggie Bullock, the latter filling in on the top line while Johnson heals.
All told, the Pistons replaced two starters, but are relying on organic player development and a severely diluted NBA East to improve on a 37-45 record and a 10th-place conference finish (4 games behind the 8-seed) last season. That promise begins with their star center.
Already in his sixth NBA season, Drummond has heretofore struggled to adopt new wrinkles to his game that could benefit his team. Yet Dre had been drawing raves in recent weeks not for his long-held rebounding prowess, but for his newfound ability to sink free throws.
A career 38.1 FT% shooter coming in, Drummond sunk 28 of his first 36 one-pointers, including an unprecedented 14-for-16 effort last Friday to help his team top visiting Milwaukee. He has cooled off in recent days, including a bagel-for-7 outing on Wednesday night (the Pistons won anyway, 114-97, over Indiana). But Drummond’s improving marksmanship means more for Detroit than a mere extra point or two per game.
Opponents, like coach Mike Budenholzer’s Hawks, cannot rely as much on the Bang The Drummond Slowly approach to stifle the Pistons’ offensive flow. SVG can keep his big man in the game for more possessions, not only producing more stops through his defensive board work and steals (1.9 SPG), but also contributing on the offensive end with second-chance opportunities and, now, assists (career-high 2.8 APG; 4+ dimes in four of his last five games).
Rather than needing to be an integral Plan B element to Van Gundy’s gameplans, under-experienced backups Eric Moreland and Boban Marjanovic can be used sparingly. Bradley and Johnson can spend more time sinking their teeth into opposing perimeter-oriented offenses (like the Warriors, who shot just 10-for-27 on threes in a home loss to the Pistons on Oct. 29), and less having to help their dominant rebounder box out inside.
Drummond’s more effective two-way presence is integral to Detroit being the only team other than Golden State among the NBA’s top-ten for both offensive and defensive efficiency ratings (9th in each category; Atlanta is bottom-ten in both areas).
How well the Pistons can sustain their success this year hinges a lot on the comfort level of their star-crossed point guard. Reggie Jackson was withheld from major preseason participation as he recuperated from knee tendinitis and a groin strain. Then, he got caught up in the league’s early-season tradewinds, prompting assurances from Van Gundy that he shall not be moved -- not, at least, for Eric Bledsoe, Jackson’s newest division rival.
Reggie is rewarding his team so far with a career-best 7.9 assists per-36. He is showing better decision-making within the perimeter as well, shooting much better than his troublesome 44.2 2FG% from last season, while producing his lowest turnover rate (13.3 TO%) as a starting ballhandler. But if a downturn in his production coincides with a plummet down the standings for Detroit, the spectre of persistent trade rumors won’t help alleviate the pressure on him. Jackson is capably backed by Ish Smith (4.0 APG off the bench, 1.5 TOs/game), and the conclusion to last season gave many fans the sense that Smith could succeed with a heavier workload.
Bradley has been widely praised as one of the best on-ball defenders in the land, and one can bet he won’t be spending much time zeroed-in on Atlanta’s Kent Bazemore (35.6 FG%). Bradley will instead be hounding Dennis Schröder, who leads the league with 68.2 eFG% in isolation (min. 1.5 iso-possessions per game).
In what would serve as a disappointment to Gordie Howe, the Hawks have produced a mere 2.2 “hockey assists” per game (tie-8th-fewest in NBA) despite dishing out the fourth-most passes (324.1 per game) per contest. Dennis can help his Hawks boost their secondary-assist production by kicking the ball out on drives to teammates who can swing the ball around the horn, particularly to spots Bradley cannot reach.
Atlanta wants the majority of Bradley’s activities directed in the paint, crowded around Harris and Drummond defensively to help the Hawks in transition, and lofting interior shots (44.8 2FG%) where he has been less effective than at the three-point line (career-high 42.0 3FG%). Avery leads the NBA with 4.5 dribble hand-off plays, and 3.4 DHO shots, per game, but has shot just 37.8 FG% on those possessions. Cutting from swingmen Taurean Prince, Bazemore, and/or Marco Belinelli can help Atlanta keep Bradley occupied with running from pillar-to-post.
When Jackson isn’t calling his own number, the Pistons will turn to leading-scorer Harris for end-of-clock shots. Similar to Bradley’s DHOs, Tobias takes a league-high 6.4 attempts per game on spot-ups, but shoots a modest 44.3 FG% on them.
Poor player-personnel decisions from the recent past, plus a cadre of fans left weary after years of second-fiddle play in the LeBronference, are perception issues that the Pistons have been unable to leave behind in the ‘burbs. Detroit has been winning lately, but to inspire its long-reticent fanbase to take the leap and make more trips downtown, they must continue to do win, and avoid slip-ups on nights like tonight. Like Jay-Z to Mob Deep, the prevailing sentiment around Motown is, “We don’t believe you. You need more people!”
Let’s Go Hawks!
~lw3
