Pistons' Drummond prospering from Jackson's return

Charlotte, N.C. — Through their first 21 games, the Pistons clearly missed starting point guard Reggie Jackson, as they hovered around .500 and managed 11 wins.

Scoring was down and they mixed in some motion offense to complement the traditional pick-and-roll philosophy. At times, they didn’t have the same flow or ball movement with Ish Smith in the starting role and infused a faster tempo to compensate.

No one missed Jackson more than his pick-and-roll partner, center Andre Drummond.

Paired with Smith, Drummond ran fewer pick-and-roll plays but his numbers didn’t dip significantly. He’s at 14.1 points and 13 rebounds, hitting 52.1 percent on field goals — down about two points and two rebounds from his All-Star numbers last season.

But Drummond has adapted his game and found other ways to score, hitting the offensive boards and even ranging farther out from the paint to create opportunities.

“Reggie draws more attention in the pick-and-roll, so it helps (Drummond),” coach Stan Van Gundy said. “He’s adapted well to playing with other guys and for him, it continues to be all about bringing that consistent energy and focus every night — and when he does, he has a chance to be really good and his athleticism takes over.

According to Basketball-Reference.com, Drummond is taking 49 percent of his shots from 0-3 feet (down 10 percent from last season) and 43 percent from 3-10 feet (down 8 percent).

Put plainly, without the pick-and-rolls Drummond’s shots are coming from farther away but his overall field-goal percentage isn’t suffering because of it, dipping only one percent as compared to last season.

“He hasn’t been as efficient with the jump-hook this year,” Van Gundy said. “It’s still early and I think that’ll come around.”

In Tuesday’s win over the Bulls at The Palace, Drummond showed that energy in running pick-and-roll plays with Jackson, getting into a groove and creating easy opportunities at the rim, to the tune of 10 points in the first quarter.

Drummond has been gaining confidence in his entire offensive game, which has been due in part to his improvement at the free-throw line as well. After all the criticism he got for shooting a league-worst 36 percent at the line last season, he’s made a modest improvement to 44 percent this season.

That enables him to make moves closer to the basket and not be afraid to get fouled, fearing that he’ll miss the free throws and come up with an empty possession.

“For me, working on my game in the post and with the free throws as well, when I do make a move, I’m not afraid of getting fouled because I’ve worked so hard over the summer and throughout the year to shoot the same consistent shot at the line,” Drummond said. “Even if I do miss it, I still go back to my same routine and shoot the same shot again and usually a good result happens.

“When I do get the ball in there, my teammates trust me to make the right move. The sky’s the limit for us.”

As Jackson returns and gets more comfortable in the offense, his production likely is to pick up — as will Drummond’s, as he gets back to his usual repertoire of pick-and-rolls.

Action Jackson

The Pistons got through the first quarter of the season without Jackson, now have a chance to make up some ground on the contenders ahead of them in the East. While the unstated goal might have been to stay around .500, the Pistons have achieved that and now look to advance.

Coaches take varying amounts of time to gauge what progress their teams have made and try to figure out where they can start making changes to improve for the final 60 games or so.

“(That point) is usually about to (22 games), but when you’ve had one of your main guys out for this long, it’s going to take twice as long to figure it out,” Van Gundy said.

The bright side is that the Pistons likely have a better barometer without Jackson and they’ve gotten a very good look at what Smith can provide in a backup role — or increased minutes, if the need arises.

Easing off

Van Gundy said the medical staff has eased some of the limitations on Jackson’s minutes and although he won’t play a full load of 30 minutes-plus, he can play at least 25 minutes and won’t be restricted on back-to-back games.

Rod.Beard@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @detnewsRodBeard