Detroit Pistons: 3 goals for Andre Drummond in 2018-19

3. Improve his defense

This one seems simple, and it is. In his career, Drummond has been an average defensive center. He has the ability to be much better than that, but he just hasn’t thus far. Casey has the ability to bring out that aspect of Drummond’s game.

In today’s modern NBA, the main way for big men to be on the floor to close out games is to be defensively sound on switches. For the Houston Rockets, Clint Capela is no offensive terror, but he is great on defense.

Drummond has to put together highlight reel dunk displays with his springy athleticism. While athleticism does not automatically translate into good defense, Drummond can use his to be better on that end. He can already body up the majority of bigs, but he needs to be able to move his feet to keep up with guards on switches. Lineups like the Pistons with two traditional bigs can pose issues for small-ball teams on offense, but they need to be good on defense as well.

Griffin will focus the majority of his efforts on offense. He’s also never been an amazing defender. Drummond will be tasked with the better offensive player, and he’ll need to be ready to handle that matchup. Drummond will never be on the Rudy Gobert level of defense. However, the Pistons need him to be better than what he has been in the past couple of seasons. If he takes to Casey’s tutelage, that should be no problem.