Matthew Sattam

Alisse Portnoy

English 125

26 November 2014

The “Big Three” is Obviously Not Working, So What is Next?

Change looks like it is on its way, my friends. Three coaches and roughly one hundred games later, it is obvious that the trio of Andre Drummond, Greg Monroe, and Josh Smith is not producing the results that Joe Dumars envisioned it would. It is almost certain that they will be broken up, but which one of them should get the boot? Should not one, but two of them pack their bags and get sent out of Detroit? Who should stay and represent our Pistons red, white and blue? We need to truly ask ourselves who gives us the best chance to win a title down the road. Obviously basketball skill is important, but we should also consider things like play style, potential, and even work ethic. Frankly, Monroe’s future here cannot be determined just yet, but Drummond needs to stay and Smith needs to be gone before the trade deadline in February.

        Before all else, let us consider the contracts of the three players so that we have a business understanding of what we have to deal with. The NBA salary cap is roughly $63 million (Smith). Josh Smith is owed $13.5 million a year through the 2016-17 season. That is over 20% of our team’s salary devoted to one player! Depending on a player’s value, that could be a very tough contract to move. Greg Monroe is in the last year of his contract and is getting paid roughly $5.5 million this year. He will test free agency this upcoming offseason. Projecting what it will cost to bring him back next year is tough, but a young big man who has shown success at the pro level will surely have high demand. The Pistons will probably have to pay a considerable amount to bring him back. Andre Drummond will make around $10.5 million total over the next three years (Basketball Insiders).

        Now that we know where our team stands monetarily with the three, I feel the need to first calm my fellow Pistons fans that have lost hope in Andre Drummond. While I am just as frustrated as you are with what I have seen on the court this year from him, we cannot forget that the kid just turned twenty-one this past August. Yes, he needs to be tougher, he needs to improve on his defensive awareness, and he needs to score more than 11.4 points per game, but he is still very young (Basketball-Reference.com). Even with all of these struggles, we can count on his size and athleticism to get us twelve boards a game (his season average so far this year). He possesses enormous potential at one of the scarcest positions in the league; he has more potential than Monroe (who you could argue has reached his ceiling this year). We knew on draft day that Drummond would be a project. As tough as times are now, we cannot give up on a kid that has a great chance to be the future star of our team and a future star in the league. Coach Stan Van Gundy has a history of getting the most out of his big man. Shaquille O’Neal came second in MVP voting in his one full season with Van Gundy, and Dwight Howard won the “Defensive Player of the Year” award three straight seasons. With Van Gundy as his coach, Drummond is in a great position to grow. In fact, Van Gundy said in his initial press conference that he and his staff have “a responsibility to put a system and personnel around [Drummond] that allow him to thrive,” (Watson). We need to give Van Gundy time to develop him.

His skills are obviously important, but one thing that sometimes gets overlooked is his desire, or “hunger.” Drummond not only possesses great potential, but a hunger to reach that potential. We may not be able to tell, but desire can play a big role in a player’s progression. Drummond’s hunger is something we should all be proud of. In that same press conference, Van Gundy told reporters how Drummond was eager to know what he needed to do to be better. “He's a guy that wants to be great,” Van Gundy said. Is that not the type of player we want to build around? Although patience is not fun, it is necessary. Let us continue to be patient with Drummond, and let us allow our well-respected coach to continue to develop him.

        Smith, on the other hand, needs to go. He actually plays very similar to Drummond; he is a good rim protector (averaging 1.6 blocks per game), athletic, can steal well (averaging 1.2 steals per game), and struggles offensively (shooting 37% from the field) (Basketball-Reference.com). The defense is there, but having two offensively unreliable big men is a problem. If they are very similar in their play style, then why should we keep Drummond instead of Smith? There are two main reasons: youth and desire. As mentioned, Drummond is twenty-one. However, Smith is almost thirty. Smith is primarily known for being athletic. Many of his skills derive from his athleticism, like his transition defense and his ability to finish around the rim. Over these next couple of years, his athleticism very well could diminish substantially. Actually, we can tell it is diminishing just by watching his on-ball defense. He is struggling to stay in front of his defenders more than ever before. He was much better at moving laterally four or five years ago in Atlanta. If we take Smith’s athleticism away, what is left? Sure, he may still be able to block shots, but his ability to steal and blow by people offensively would fall due to a decline in quickness. We know we cannot rely on his jump shot. If we try and post Smith up, then we might as well hand the ball over to the other team. How many times this season have we seen Smith post up, try and make a move, get stuck, then either take a poor shot, kick it out with the shot clock almost expired, or turn the ball over (he is leading the team in turnovers right now as a Small Forward)? Meanwhile, we can thrive off of Drummond’s athleticism for the next eight or nine years.

Moreover, Smith’s hunger is a concern. Obviously, he knows he needs to play well because this is his job. However, where does the team’s success fall in line on his priority list? Is he going out there every night to play for this city, the fans, and most importantly his teammates? Is he doing everything he possibly can to bring our city a championship? Is he on the phone with Van Gundy asking what he needs to do to be better, like Drummond? Or is he out there just playing for a paycheck? If we are going to raise another banner here in the D, we need players that have a desire to win. Players who will put it all on the line for their teammates, just as Laimbeer did. Remember those dives? Players who will not give up on a play no matter how far away the play is, just as Prince did not. Remember that block? Players who have the confidence to bounce back after a tough loss, just like Sheed. Remember that guarantee? Not only are these the types of players that we need to win, but these are the types of players that represent us as a tough, hardworking city. Desire is much like a motor: it is a force that keeps something running. You need a motor to play in the Motor City, and Smith’s motor is a huge question.

Speaking of questions, there is also the big question of what to do with Monroe. Monroe can score efficiently down low, rebound tremendously on the defensive end, and shoot well from the line. He is averaging a double-double, shooting nearly fifty percent from the field, and is shooting seventy-five percent from the line (Basketball-Reference.com). Monroe’s offensive game is what Drummond lacks. Conversely, Drummond’s defense is what Monroe lacks. Monroe does not have much athleticism, so guarding pick and rolls are tough for him. Rim protection is a problem for Monroe, too. The two of them could potentially neutralize each other’s weaknesses because Monroe possesses skills Drummond lacks and vice versa. Along with the fact that they are both young and tremendous rebounders, that could be a good front court for years to come. So what is the problem? First, Drummond still needs to improve in some areas on defense. Sure, he is a great rim protector, but his defensive awareness and toughness are not where they need to be right now, as previously mentioned. Those can improve over time, but we may not see very good defense down low between the two of them in the immediate future. Another problem is Monroe’s mid-range jumper. His lack of jumper could hurt floor spacing. For example, if Drummond were to ever utilize his athletic ability in the pick and roll, he would have a tough time finding an open route to the basket. This is because the defender on Monroe would be able to simply sag in the paint without worry of Monroe hitting a twelve-to-fifteen foot jumper. And do not even bother to hope that Monroe will, at some point, develop a mid-range jumper because he has not shown much improvement on it since he came into the league. Would we be better off finding another power forward who can provide offense down low and also have the ability to knock down a fifteen footer? Maybe we should go the 4/1 route instead? The 4/1 is, after all, a proven sustainable offense that Van Gundy has had success with. That decision will be up to Van Gundy and will likely depend on what is available both in free agency and the draft. Before we worry about life after Monroe, though, we need to first determine what we should do with him. We can adequately determine Monroe’s future here if we trade Smith before the trade deadline.

Moving Smith before the deadline not only gets Smith out of here, but it also allows us to see how the team plays when Drummond and Monroe are surrounded by three shooters around the perimeter. Van Gundy would be able to observe how the lineup performs for the remainder of the season and then decide Monroe’s fate with the team. The lineup could potentially work, even though Monroe cannot hit a mid-range jumper. We would play around Monroe. There would be an extra shooter on the court instead of Smith (Butler or Singler), and it would allow there to be much more room for Monroe to operate. For example, as the ball is in Monroe’s hands down low, the three perimeter players could set each other off-ball screens (or possibly even have Drummond set them off-ball screens). Monroe, who is a great passer, could then find one of them either for an open shot or an easy lay-up off of a cut. He could simply work his post moves, too, of course. If Van Gundy likes what he is working with and sees potential in the lineup, he can re-sign Monroe and build around the two bigs. If not, he can let Monroe walk and use that money somewhere else. However, this testing period only becomes possible if Smith is moved before the deadline. The sooner he can move Smith, the more time he can spend testing this lineup.

There are times where this type of lineup is out on the court, but it is never for significant minutes. Smith is tied on the team with Caldwell-Pope for most minutes per game (Basketball-Reference.com). So why not just bench Smith? We should bench him if he is still here post-deadline, but it should not happen before. Smith’s already poor trade value would take a massive hit if we bench him this early. In a rebuilding season, flaunting him up until the trade deadline makes sense. Smith does post solid numbers in the stat sheet most games, usually only a few rebounds and assists shy of a triple-double. Stats do not mean anything in regards to how a player fits on a team, especially when the team is playing poor, but they do look good for the individual. Smith posting near triple-doubles has much more trade appeal than Smith posting bench player numbers. Because Smith is playing and recording quality stats, a general manager does not have to be speculative of his value. A problem arises if he is still here after the deadline. We would have to bench him in order to give the Drummond, Monroe, and three shooters lineup a shot. Trying to move Smith this upcoming offseason may be difficult, though, when teams see that Smith was benched for nearly two months. Getting Smith out of here before the deadline prevents that ugly scenario.

There is also the concern of whether Smith is untradeable. While Smith does not play up to his contract, that does not mean he is untradeable. Sure, he does not fit next to Drummond, but Smith does possess skills that could fit next to a center who can score (like his former teammate, Al Horford). Just this past offseason we reportedly had serious talks with Sacramento about moving Smith (Ellington). Smith and DeMarcus Cousins, Sacramento’s center, make sense to pair up in the front court because Cousins can score. Even the fact that a team showed serious interest in Smith this past offseason should alleviate these worries. Was it not assumed he was untradeable then, too? Do not lose hope on sending Smith out of here.

After we played the Nuggets earlier this season, Kenneth Faried, the Nuggets’ forward, admitted after his team’s win that he and the Nuggets gave Smith room to chuck up brick after brick. Smith’s poor shooting at the end of the game was a big reason why we lost. This was not only an excellent strategy by the Nuggets, but it was true. However, Smith, instead of taking responsibility for missing some late shots, told reporters, “I don’t respond to nobody with dreadlocks who plays basketball,” (Garrison). That display of immaturity makes us feel embarrassed to be associated with him. We are too proud of a franchise and too proud of a city to have a goof like him not only cost us the game, but represent us in that fashion. Is that the type of player we want Drummond and the rest of our team’s youth to grow under? Getting rid of Smith before the deadline needs to be priority number one right now.

Works Cited

Basketball Insiders. "Detroit Pistons Team Salary." Basketball Insiders. Insider Sports, 7 Jan. 2014. Web. 15 Nov. 2014.

Basketball-Reference.com. Sports Reference, n.d. Web. 16 Nov. 2014.

Ellington, Blake. "Pete D'Alessandro Hints a Kings Trade Could Still Be Coming." Sactown Royalty. Vox Media, 27 June 2014. Web. 20 Nov. 2014.

Garrison, Drew. "Josh Smith Calls Kenneth Faried a 'clown'" SBNation. Vox Media, 30 Oct. 2014. Web. 24 Nov. 2014.

Smith, Sekou. "2013-14 NBA Salary Cap Figure Set at $58.679 Million."NBAcom Hang Time Blog with Sekou Smith. Turner Sports & Entertainment, 9 July 2013. Web. 07 Dec. 2014.

Watson, Matt. "Stan Van Gundy Plans to Build around Andre Drummond and Greg Monroe ... but Josh Smith?" Detroit Bad Boys. Vox Media, 16 May 2014. Web. 17 Nov. 2014.