I’ve remained fairly critical of the Pistons defensive scheme, especially having Andre Drummond drop so far back. I’ve also tried to make it clear that one of the reasons it look so bad is that the team, especially Drummond, has not fully grasped the correct way to play it. The above clip is an example of that Drummond is starting to get some idea of how to correctly play the new scheme.

In the first few games of the season (the first two games were the most obvious by far) he was sitting so far back that it gave ball-handlers too much space to either take a wide open mid-ranger or use the space as a launch-pad to rocket past him.

Here he is dropped back so that he can cover the hoop/paint, but he isn’t so far back that he gives all kinds of space, he lets Hayward get a mid-ranger but he’s close enough to keep it from being too comfortable. So while I’m still not a fan of Drummond dropping like this, this is just an example of them getting more comfortable with the scheme and what it is supposed to look like.

Second thing, we saw some more Jackson/Drummond pick and roll in this game which was nice!