The Pistons have a lot of new pieces to fit together once training camp opens at the end of the month, but that’s going to be part of the fun.
Detroit added Brandon Jennings and Josh Smith to an already talented group of young players, and put a new head coach in place in Maurice Cheeks who will be tasked with trying to make it all work from the very start.
Jennings didn’t receive the extension he wanted from the Bucks largely due to his inconsistent play that saw him looking to shoot more than pass from the point guard position, but that may have been a function of who he had with him on the roster. As he looks forward to next season, Jennings is excited by the possibilities.
From Keith Langlois of Pistons.com:“Andre Drummond, his potential is very high. He’s so young, too,” Jennings said Tuesday after his first workout in the team’s Auburn Hills practice facility. “Greg Monroe, he’s a guy we can get the ball to under the basket and make plays, get buckets. They’re two big, physical guys, too. And with Josh (Smith), bringing him in here, I think we should own the glass this year, defense and offense.”
Early in Jennings’ Milwaukee career, when Andrew Bogut was healthy, he got to see the effect of a low-post presence on the rest of a team’s attack. When Jennings said at his introductory press conference in early August, “I definitely have to change my game for this team, for my teammates, everybody to be successful,” that’s what he had in mind.
“With the talent we have – we have two of the best young big men in the league right now, Drummond and Greg Monroe. You really don’t see that too much anymore,” he said after Tuesday’s workout. “That was the David Robinson-Tim Duncan era, when they were together. Now that we have two of ’em – and two young guys – I’m real excited to be able to play with those two.”
As for the part about rebounding, the Pistons were 13th in the league in both rebound rate and rebound differential per game last season. The addition of Smith should help a little but it’s worth noting that considering his size and athleticism, his average of 8.4 rebounds per game last season should be considered an underachievement at his position.
But nitpicking aside, the fact that Jennings is going into his new situation in Detroit with the mindset of changing his game to suit his new teammates is a positive sign.