In addition to deploying him as a playmaker who frequently brings the ball up the floor, to make Griffin more complementary to his fellow big man and power player Andre Drummond, his fellow big man and power player, Casey also urged Griffin to be a vocal leader. Since his trade to the Pistons at the end of January, Griffin had routinely deferred to Drummond and the veteran guard Reggie Jackson.

Out of respect for Drummond’s longevity in Detroit — this is his seventh season here — Griffin is still ushered onto the floor fourth out of the five starters. Drummond goes last. But Griffin’s louder voice and the Pistons’ new leadership pecking order are otherwise clear to anyone who spends time around this team.

Said the veteran Detroit guard Ish Smith: “We tried to tell him last year, ‘No, Blake, you’re the guy.’ This year, you can see a different mind-set. You know this is his team and we’re following.”

For Griffin to be traded anywhere would have been a shock to the system, especially after the Clippers had staged a well-chronicled faux jersey retirement ceremony in 2017 free agency to convince Griffin he was “a lifelong Clipper,” one who should stay despite numerous playoff disappointments and a haunting succession of injuries.

The whirlwind after the trade was such that Griffin barely got to know Detroit in the second half of the 2017-18 season. His cars and furniture stayed in Los Angeles. He arranged for temporary accommodations through Airbnb and, by his own estimate, was never in Detroit for “more than a week a half” at a time before returning to Los Angeles to begin his off-season when the Pistons missed the playoffs. He has since secured a more inviting residence in Franklin, Mich., and scoffs at any suggestion that he’s living in exile.

“I come home from practice, take a nap, then I start watching games at night,” Griffin said. “That’s just my routine. I can’t tell you one day that I woke up going, ‘Man, I wish I was in L.A.’ I mean that.”