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

2. Maintain his improved free throw shooting

Drummond’s aforementioned improvement at the free throw line was a welcome revelation last season. After years of being the league’s biggest Hack-A-Shaq target, he was finally able to deter teams from targeting him at the end of games.

However, he has to show that last year was not a one-year wonder for him. He doesn’t have to shoot better, although it’d be great. He just can’t regress back towards his previous levels.

Drummond’s inability to knock down free throws slowed the game down, and it forced the Pistons to take him off the floor. Last season, his improvements allowed the team to keep him in. It also gave the team more lineup flexibility. If they wanted to play two bigs, they could, because his free throw shooting was good enough. If Drummond shoots at least 60 percent from the line again this season, He’ll give Casey much more reason to keep him in at the end of games.

However, if he regresses, he’ll become too much of a liability at the end of games. To close out games, you want your best possible lineup with your best overall players. Drummond is definitely in the team’s top three players with Griffin and Jackson as the other two. Casey will want to keep all three on the floor at the end of games, but if Drummond presents more negative than positive value, he would have no reservations about benching him.