FanPost

Film Room: How the Pistons can make the most of Luka Garza's 3-point shot

Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports


The player who grabbed the most attention in the Pistons' draft class was always going to be the one they picked in the first round. Regardless of whether they selected Cade Cunningham, someone else, or traded the first pick, the story surrounding the first pick is just too juicy to be passed over by anyone or anything else. Picking up Luka Garza in the second round was a faint rumble in comparison, despite the clamoring that would have surrounded his acquisition by most other teams.

To those who follow college hoops, Garza needs no introduction. Those who don't will hardly have trouble picking up o why he's a big deal. The 2020 Naismith Trophy recipient, he was a 32 minute per game player who averaged nearly a double-double. Iowa ran their offense through him and he rewarded them richly with constant 20+ point performances.

What really made his game pop last season, though, was a made 3-point shot percentage that rocketed from 35.8 percent in 2019-20 to 44.0 percent in 2020-21. By adding that deep ball, he became unstoppable in the Big 10. However, severe concerns linger about whether his athletic ability on defense will translate to the modern NBA environment. Therefore, it's absolutely essential that his offensive game is well oiled and ready to roll in Detroit for the rookie to find any minutes at all in the milieu of Detroit basketball and being surrounded by fellow centers Isaiah Stewart, Kelly Olynyk, Trey Liles, Jahlil Okafor, and Balsa Kopravicia. Being that both Olynyk and Garza are special in large part due to the stretchiness and the Pistons made a much larger financial commitment to Olynyk, Garza will be facing an uphill battle.

To that end, I dug into his college film and examined what made his 3-point shot work and whether he could use it to find success within Detroit’s offense. Based on his reputation of a traditional center smeared all over the national media, I was expecting to find college defenses were simply flatfooted against a very experienced Garza while he feasted on their mistakes. I’m not smart enough to analyze shot mechanics, but to my surprise, what I found in the X’s and O’s was encouraging for his ability to make the Pistons better.

Take this play, for example.

As you can see, Iowa was was able to quickly create an unguarded look for Garza, and he was ready to take advantage. The Hawkeyes ran that play over and over again with good results. In Iowa’s game against March 12th alone, nine of his 24 points were scored off this exact play design. On a broader scale, Garza’s 36 possessions on the season ending in an unguarded catch and shoot, he scored 54 points. That placed him in the 90th percentile among college basketball players in points per possession on such shots.

This particular instance against Oregon is an easy one to dissect, so let's do exactly that, looking at the five basic phases of this play before examining how he can benefit the rest of the team by being deployed at the arc.

First Phase

Because this specific iteration of the play is initiated when the court is in transition, Garza is able to easily lead the ballhandler to the perimeter. However, it shouldn’t be much of a problem for him to get there at any point during most other plays where someone (maybe even a slasher, depending on the situation) is available to take his place in the paint. He’s a massive person, and even on an NBA court, there are few who will be able to stop him from getting to his intended destination. The important part is that he positions himself somewhere that fits these criteria: 1) there is a driving lane available for the ballhandler to reach him and 2) doesn’t force his defender to be glued to his hip, which we’ll discuss in a minute.

Second Phase

Once he’s established at the perimeter and the ballhandler has made his way over to where Garza is stationed, the big man sets what I’ll call a "soft screen" for the trailing defender. The defender is able to easily skinny past Garza, but that’s okay! The screen is more for show than anything else; it only has to look like he made an effort to stop the defender trailing the ballhandler.

Third Phase

As mentioned earlier, it’s important for Garza’s defender to have afforded Garza a little space. In that respect, Garza’s relative slowness may be a blessing in disguise. Quicker defenders will feel free to give themselves a cushion, allowing them to be switchable, while not risking Garza getting away from them if he gets on the move. That’s exactly what we want for this play to function as designed.

By setting a "soft screen", he allows the defender trailing the ballhandler to roughly stay on track (and thus, continue moving away from him) while also causing his own defender to switch onto the ballhandler as well. This only works because Garza is known for his ability to plant himself like a monolith. When he sets a screen, the off-ball defender is forced to choose between staying on his assignment and risk allowing an open shot from the ballhandler or switch off his assignment and cover for the man who was just screened.

Fourth Phase

When the play works as it’s drawn up and the off-ball defender bites on the "soft screen" and switches to an on-ball assignment, Garza is left with a huge radius void of opposing players. The Oregon defenders in this specific possession failed at an especially egregious level, and Garza is left with about 14 feet of totally unoccupied space. Longer NBA defenders with better instincts won’t be as badly fooled, but the principle behind this play remains the same. Even if it doesn’t work as well or as consistently against veterans of the sport, he’s still going to be afforded open looks against some opponents.

Fifth Phase

Execution, especially when the play design works to perfection like it does in this instance, is pretty simple. The ballhandler makes an outlet pass to Garza, who puts up the 3-ball. Obviously, by the time the ball meets Garza’s palms, the defenders will realize they’ve been duped, but it’s probably too late for them to do much about it. The big man is a reliable shot and he’s too sturdy to be effectively bothered by a closeout from the distance that the "soft screen" created without a foul being involved.

It goes without saying that this isn’t the only way to get Garza involved in Detroit’s offensive game. He has a bag full of post moves and there’s plenty of other ways to get him shots from behind the arc.

However, this play design caught my attention because Garza is probably looking at highly restricted time with the NBA club. He won’t have much an opportunity to develop a rapport with his teammates on the big club. Therefore, if he’s going to be put to best use in those minutes, the Pistons will need to deploy a strategy that is both quickly learned and taps into his size and stretchiness. This play serves that purpose to a tee.

More generally, though, by utilizing Garza at the perimeter, the Pistons would be able to squeeze better production from their more core players. He’s a boulder on screens when he means business. Additionally, his shooting is a legitimate excuse to be at the line at any given time. That gives defenders reason for pause before they switch onto the ballhandler after a screen, potentially providing the handler with a little extra time, a little extra floor space, or both.

How does that look a practical level with the Pistons’ roster?

Well, as a shooting treat, Garza could force tough choices when Cade Cunningham, Saddiq Bey, or Frank Jankson are the ballhandler in question. Alternatively, he could function the security blanket for Killian Hayes, Hamidou Diallo, or Josh Jackson. That trio could benefit greatly from added consistency in their shooting, and Garza’s ability to screen or receive dump-off passes could afford them the in-game reps sometimes needed for genuine development.

Likely destined to play most of his season in the G League but already good enough to be a star at that level, Garza doesn’t have much to learn from playing against non-NBA talent. As a center with an unusual skillset and the ability to use it decisively, he opens up the opportunity for the Motor City Cruise to run all kinds of crafty sets. Though he’s probably not a high-ceiling NBA player, I’ll be be watching attentively to see what the organization does with him as both a weapon and as an enabler at the three point line in the G League as he prepares for his opportunity with the Pistons.

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