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[biggunsbob]

On ESPN?

There is article on the Pistons.

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/12154001/are-detroit-pistons-real-nba

The dramatic turnaround of the Detroit Pistons has taken the NBA by storm, supplanting the Golden State Warriors and Atlanta Hawks as the most surprising stories of the season. After starting out a dreadful 5-23, the Pistons have won eight of their past nine games. But what's most interesting about Detroit's resurgence isn't that they're winning; it's how they're winning.

It took some time and a Josh Smith pink slip, but Stan Van Gundy's Pistons have become Magical -- that's with a capital "M." With a freak athlete at center and a supporting cast that bombs 3s, Van Gundy's squad is slowly morphing into his Orlando Magic squad that reached the NBA Finals in 2008-09.

With a floundering Eastern Conference, the question is: How far can Van Gundy take Magic 2.0?


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[UMRules06]

Here it is:

The dramatic turnaround of the Detroit Pistons has taken the NBA by storm, supplanting the Golden State Warriors and Atlanta Hawks as the most surprising stories of the season. After starting out a dreadful 5-23, the Pistons have won eight of their past nine games. But what's most interesting about Detroit's resurgence isn't that they're winning; it's how they're winning.

It took some time and a Josh Smith pink slip, but Stan Van Gundy's Pistons have become Magical -- that's with a capital "M." With a freak athlete at center and a supporting cast that bombs 3s, Van Gundy's squad is slowly morphing into his Orlando Magic squad that reached the NBA Finals in 2008-09.

With a floundering Eastern Conference, the question is: How far can Van Gundy take Magic 2.0?


Since releasing Smith, the Pistons have averaged 11.4 made 3-pointers per game. To drive home how remarkable that figure is, consider that prior to letting Smith go, the Pistons made more than 11 3-pointers in a game once all season. That's it. Just once. So just by flushing Smith's inefficient game out of their system, the Pistons' ceiling has become the norm.
Stylistically, this is a completely different team from the one we saw start 5-23 this season. On Friday against the Atlanta Hawks, the Pistons broke a team record by launching 43 3-pointers. The very next night, they fired up another 33, splashing 11 against the Brooklyn Nets en route to a 98-93 win. The franchise record heading into this season for 3-point attempts in a game? 32. Actually, Van Gundy's Pistons have smashed the existing franchise record not once, but five times this season.

When we take a closer look at their Smoove-less r?sum?, we find startling similarities to the Magic team that shocked LeBron James' Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference finals to face the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2009 championship. That team thrived by the 3 in a four-out system surrounding Dwight Howard in the middle.

With Rashard Lewis, Courtney Lee, Hedo Turkoglu, Jameer Nelson and J.J. Redick playing beyond the arc, they led the NBA in percentage of 3-point field goal attempts at 33.5 percent. This season -- with Smith in the fold -- Van Gundy's Pistons just took 27.3 percent of their shots from deep. Not characteristic of a Van Gundy team.

But without Smith on the roster, Detroit's portion of field goal attempts from downtown has surged to 34.1 percent -- almost identical to the 3-happy 2008-09 Magic. But you know what's identical to the 2008-09 Magic? Detroit and those Magic squads both made those 3-pointers at an identical 38.1 percent clip. Crazy, huh?

SVG Teams ORtg DRtg Net % 3-point FGA 3-point FG %
Detroit '15 Before 97.6 105.8 -8.2 27.3 33.0
Detroit '15 After 109.7 95.7 14 34.1 38.1
Orlando '09 107.2 98.9 8.3 33.5 38.1
Nine games is a limited sample size, to be sure. But those wanting to explain how the Pistons' have pulled a U-turn on the season, the biggest transformation definitely is seen beyond the arc. Together, Jonas Jerebko and the recently acquired Anthony Tolliver have become a two-headed Rashard Lewis, combining for 5.1 3-point attempts per game at a 38.9 percent clip. Jodie Meeks, who ranked among the best floor-spacers last season in respect rating, has taken the role of Redick, nailing 40 percent of his 4.0 3-pointers per game off the bench.

But the most obvious comparison is between Howard and Andre Drummond. Just 21, Drummond is a wrecking ball at the rim just like Howard in his prime. After a horrid start to the season, Drummond has gotten back to his dominant self, shooting 58.6 percent from the floor since the Smith release with 75 dunks for the entire season. Like Howard, Drummond is terrifying when he rolls to the rim and looks for the lob. Though Drummond is not as strong a scorer as Howard, we must remember Drummond's youth. He can get there.

More from ESPN.com
Bradford Doolittle discusses why the Pistons are much better without inefficient-shooting forward Josh Smith. Story Insider

Brandon Jennings isn't reminding anyone of a young Jameer Nelson, but he's cut down on his head-scratching decisions and looked much more comfortable in the up-tempo offense. That said, Greg Monroe is probably the misfit in the Magic paradigm. However, even though the Monroe-Drummond front line starts, they quickly go to more stretchy lineups that feature Monroe at the center slot. In fact, Monroe and Drummond have played just 15.6 minutes per game together in the wake of the Smith departure, which means that for 32.4 minutes, the Pistons roll with a stretch-4 -- something they simply couldn't do with Smith around.
So, how good can this team be? Newsflash: They're not as good as they're playing now. The 1996 Bulls that went 72-10 didn't even win at the Pistons' current Smith-less pace. But these Pistons are certainly not as bad as their 5-23 start. They're somewhere in between.

The Hollinger Power Rankings, which place greater weighting on "What have you done for me lately?" have the Pistons ranked 13th in the NBA on Monday, which seems about right. It's not as though they're taking advantage of a cupcake schedule lately. They've beaten the Dallas Mavericks, Cleveland Cavaliers and San Antonio Spurs on the road while absolutely pummeling the rest of the competition. Of their eight victories since Christmas, six have been by double-figures.

With Toronto and Cleveland stumbling, the top of the East race is as vulnerable as ever. If the Pistons keep playing like this, we'll have to consider them serious contenders for the conference finals even though they might not have a top-four seed. The Pistons' defense probably isn't this good (just 95.7 points allowed per 100 possessions since the Smith trade), but the Magic-oriented offense can't be ignored. They're putting up a "[expletive] wall" (if you watched the end of their game against the Spurs, you know what I'm talking about) and no one seems to know how to knock it down. These Pistons are legit.

News and notes
? The Knicks are an embarrassment right now. During the 15-game losing streak, guess how many minutes they've held more than a five-point lead in a game? The answer is one, as in one minute. I repeat: one minute in 15 games. The last time they enjoyed a six-plus lead, it came in the second quarter of their Dec. 20 nine-point loss to the Phoenix Suns at home. That lead lasted eight seconds. And it was almost a month ago. It's one thing to lose, but it's another to not be remotely competitive.

? My man Kevin Pelton handed over this nugget Sunday night: The Cavs have the third-worst point differential in the league since LeBron James went out (minus-11.4). Only Philadelphia and New York have been as bad as the Cavs lately. They're 1-7 since James left the lineup, which follows a mind-numbing trend over his career. There have been two other times the Cavs have lost James due to injury for at least four consecutive games. Counting the current stretch, the Cavs are 1-16 in those James-less games. Turns out LeBron James is kind of a big deal.

? Big win for the struggling Miami Heat on Sunday in Clipperland. You would think we'd see more wins with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in uniform, but the Heat had been outscored by 52 points with those two stars on the floor and no Josh McRoberts to stabilize the lineup. That's a 5.8 point deficit every 48 minutes.

? Speaking of Miami, how about Hassan Whiteside? After a monster 23-point, 16-rebound effort Sunday against the Clippers' front line, he's now averaging 16.6 points, 14.4 rebounds and 4.4 blocks every 36 minutes this season to go along with a 25.8 PER. After whispers of maturity issues that led to multiple stints overseas, Whiteside seems to have found a home in Miami, who desperately needs his paint presence. He already has more dunks than Bosh. Whiteside wasn't even a part of the rotation until Christmas. Great start for the 25-year-old.

? Muggsy Bogues has always been my favorite NBA player not just because he's 5-foot-3 and played 14 seasons in the NBA. He and I also have the same birthday (last Friday) and alma mater (Wake Forest). Still, even if you don't worship him like I do, you can appreciate this: He has his own Baseball-Reference page from his stint with the Class A Gastonia Rangers back in 1991. Hat-tip Christopher Kamka (@ckamka) for that gem.

? Trivia question of the week: Which NBA player has retrieved the most long rebounds (at least 10 feet away from the basket) so far this season? Answer to last week's trivia question about who has blocked the most shots outside of 10 feet: Anthony Davis. Who else?

Source: http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/stor...-conjuring-new-magic-detroit-nba?refresh=true

 

[biggunsbob]

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