February 3, 2013; Auburn Hills, MI, USA; Detroit Pistons center Andre Drummond (1) reacts after the game against the Los Angeles Lakers at The Palace. Lakers won 98-97. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

The Jose Calderon-Andre Drummond pick and roll is something I’ve been wanting to watch for quite a long time (provided you consider almost two months is a long time). And now that Andre Drummond has returned from his back injury, it’s going to be (or at least should be) a staple of Detroit’s offense. Any time you pair a great shooter and passer with an athletic, agile big man, fun things are bound to happen.

It was just one game, but small sample size theater is fun. And whether there is movement preceding the pick and roll or just a simple dribble-the-ball-up-court-bring-a-screen type of play, having a great roll man Drummond (1.19 ppp, per synergy) rolling to the basket should be a great boost to the Pistons offense.

In the 17 minutes Jose Calderon and Andre Drummond were on the floor together on Friday night the Pistons posted an offensive efficiency of 94.8. Hmmm….could have been better, but again, it’s just one game. And there were a few decent to good looking pick and rolls between the two.

On this first play, Jose Calderon receives the ball in the left corner on a pass from Kyle Singler. After he passes, Drummond sets a screen for Singler who flashes through the lane. Rudy Gay gets caught up on Drummond’s screen so his man has to help off of him to prevent a layup for Singler. The play then turns into a side pick and roll for Calderon and Drummond. Because Valanciunas had to help, he is out of position to hedge on the pick and roll. Still, he does a solid job recovering, and Calderon has to throw a tough pass to Drummond, although he may have had Monroe in the lane. He fumbles the ball a bit, and the play ends in a turnover because they are the Pistons. If Drummond is able to cleanly catch the ball, he’s got good position on  smaller Amir Johnson.

This next play has a much more desirable result. After coming off a Kyle Singler screen, Calderon gets the ball on the right side of the court. As this action finishes, Drummond begins to run over to set a screen. Since Drummond ran so hard instead of lackadaisically trotting over, Valanciunas has no choice but to use a sag technique on Calderon because he’s once again out of position to hedge. With Kyle Lowry still recovering and Valanciunas sagging, there is ample space for Jose to make a routine pocket pass to a rolling Drummond. And Drummond being the athletic he is (not to mention a little help from a late rotation by Amir Johnson) is able to convert an acrobatic layup.

In this video, Detroit’s running the same action as they did in my first example. Calderon once again receives the ball in the corner, this time from Brandon Knight. Knight cuts through the lane, just as Singler did in the first one. It turns into a screen and roll for Calderon and Drummond. Valanciunas hedges, but Calderon this time is able to get around it and quickly deliver the ball to Greg Monroe standing at the free throw line. Amir Johnson rotates onto Drummond much better this time, but he rotates back to Monroe who is fairly open. Monroe already knows where the play is going to be before it happens. As soon as he catches the ball he makes a nice dish to Drummond for an easy dunk.

This last one’s a fun one. It’s just a simple high screen and roll. Drummond comes and sets the screen, rolls, and is met by nobody. A nice alley-oop  later and the Pistons have two points. I’m not sure who was supposed to be making the rotation on this play because, well I’m not the Raptors coaching staff, but it looks like Rudy Gay surely could have interrupted his path to the hoop. Oh well. More points for Detroit — those are pretty hard to come by for them this season.

It’s been reported that Drummond won’t have any minute limitation for the res tof the season (you can decide whether that’s a good thing or not), so there should be plenty of pick and roll opportunities for the combination I have now named  Josandre. Only nine more games remain for this version of the Pistons, so the duo might not have a long lived partnership with Calderon’s contract expiring. But for the sake of the new phrase I yell and the Pistons, I sincerely hopefully they do.

Regardless of how anyone felt about the Grizzlies and Raptors sides in the three-team deal that went down just about a month ago, it was widely seen as a great move for the Pistons. It shed Tayshaun Prince’s contract and acquired an expiring one in Jose Calderon. The question of whether the Pistons should attempt to re-sign Calderon is a topic for another day. Right now it only matters how Calderon is playing for Detroit.

The decision to bring Calderon to the motor city was not only a fantastic deal financially, but it was great from a team dynamic standpoint, because – well – he’s still quite the offensive weapon.

Calderon’s been known as a hyper efficient player for most of his career and that’s yet to change, even through his slight shooting slump lately. Since coming over from Toronto, he’s putting up remarkable numbers of 50% from the field, including 51% from beyond the arc. Which, if you factor both into eFG%, would be an astounding 60.3%. Jose doesn’t get to the line much, mainly because he rarely ever wanders into the paint, but in the 14 times he has gotten to the charity stripe he’s converted 13 times. According to Synergy, since Calderon’s debut in early February hes scoring 1.07 points per possession would rank him 25th in the NBA, which is quite the feat for any player. One thing he hasn’t done well on offense though is work the pick and roll. On 52 P&R plays (which would account for almost 40% of his offensive possessions) he’s only scoring 0.65 points per possession and is turning it over almost a fourth of the time. Obviously not having Andre Drummond for most of his time in Detroit can drastically affect ones P&R numbers, so it’s not quite fair to critique Calderon on that just yet. It’s tough to run a P&R with Jason Maxiell when almost every time you know its going to end up in a missed 16 footer. When it comes to distributing, Calderon’s still an elite passer. He’s never going to do anything super flashy, but he knows what pass to make and when to pass it. While his assist % is down 7% from earlier in the season with Toronto, a 37% assist rate is still quite impressive.

Defensively you know what you’re in for when you have Jose Calderon on your team. He’s never been a good defensive player – and while numbers say he’s been better in Detroit – he’s still not a player you’d like to have on the floor on the defensive end. But the Pistons knew this (I hope) when they traded for him and shouldn’t be surprised by any defensive deficiencies he has.

And while the Pistons are only 5-7 since acquiring the Spaniard, it must be noted that they’ve been without Drummond, Knight, (hey even Will Bynum missed a game) or both for a considerable amount of these guys. Realistically, the Pistons have the slightest of chances of making it to the playoffs this year but knowing Lawrence Frank he’ll probably continue to fight till Detroit it mathematically eliminated. So at least we’ll get to see what Brandon Knight looks like as a two guard. With a team like the Pistons its important to look at the positives, and while there aren’t many, Jose Calderon is one.

All statistics in this post are via NBA.com/stats and Mysynergysports