Note that the defense rotating over isn’t them being out of position—in fact that’s likely where they’re schemed to be. With the lethality of a Drummond roll in mind, the Pistons know that their shooters are more likely to be left in order to help.

Big-Big PNR

As covered above, PNRs can be very difficult to defend with a lot of moving parts. But when you put two bigs in the PNR, it becomes an entirely new beast.

Bigs are accustomed to guarding the screener on the PNR—they know how to drop and hedge and contain the ball handler and roller. But place them on the ball, fighting through screens, and you put them in unfamiliar and unique situations. It’s not that they can’t do this, it’s just that they’ve likely rarely been asked to defend this way, and thus, the probability of a defensive lapse is much greater.

Not only do the Pistons have Griffin as a PNR initiator, opening up a ton of options for them, but they have him paired with Drummond, making for a enormous and talented frontcourt. I am aware that Pistons fans have their gripes with Drummond, but at least in theory, this is something that could really work.