The Detroit Pistons started the season 2-1 with the loss being a close 1 point loss to the Miami Heat on opening night. It looked like they were turning a corner just 3 games in, then November began. Since October 30th, Detroit has not won a game, losing 18 in a row. The roster construction is bad and the young players they have invested major assets in have not been good.
Let’s start with the roster construction. The moves to acquire (and then extend) Marvin Bagley and to acquire James Wiseman have not been very good. Both former number 2 picks, neither player worked out in their first place, Bagley with the Kings and Wiseman with the Warriors. Neither guy is a particularly good defensive player, neither shoots 3’s, and neither is a great post-up player. They do not do a whole lot of positive stuff on the court, yet they continue to get run in games. New coach Monty Williams does not seem to be a fan of Jaden Ivey. After starting 73 of 74 games he played in last season, Ivey has only started in 6 of 16 games played this season with his minutes per game down from 31.1 to 23.1. His advanced metrics are mostly up too, PER (player efficiency rating), true shooting percentage, win shares, and VORP (value over replacement player) are all up from last season according to basketball reference but Williams seemingly does not want to play him and I think that is a mistake. Cade Cunningham is a good player and someone who has a chance to be an elite player but he has been a part of Detroit's losing. He needs to be more efficient, 41% from the field simply is not good enough. He also keeps turning the ball over, averaging 4.4 turnovers per game, which is also not good enough. Cunningham is not the whole reason the Pistons are losing but his play this season has been part of the problem. Killian Hayes continues to be in the Pistons rotation and I do not get it. With shooting splits of .42/.32/.67 and 4.3 assists per game from the point guard position, he is not a good offensive NBA player and the defense also does not separate him from the rest of the pack. While Cunningham needs to be better, Detroit's biggest issue is that the players they are putting on the court on a night to night basis are not very good.
I have already talked about their backup bigs but the Pistons also keep starting Isaiah Stewart at the 4 and I just do not see it. The spacing has improved, 37% on 3’s on 4.1 attempts per game, but with Jalen Duren being awesome and mostly being a rim-running defensive anchor, I would rather start 4 perimeter players around that. Which brings us back to the point of roster construction. They are getting Bojan Bogdanovic back and that is big because he is really good and rookie guard Marcus Sasser has impressed this season. Those guys need to play for the Pistons. Stop trying to make these draft busts happen because it is not going too. My question is why not bring Isaiah Stewart off of the bench? This would allow them to split up the Stewart/Duren minutes thus not needing them to use so much of Bagley and Wiseman. I just would like to see less double bigs, less of their backup bigs, and more fun Jalen Duren stuff so I think that the easiest way to do that is to bring Stewart off of the bench. Of course this would not fully eliminate double bigs but it would allow for more of Stewart and Duren to be the lone big on the court and that is something that the Pistons should focus on.
Speaking of Duren, he and Ausar Thompson both look like real building blocks for the future of the Detroit Pistons. They both look like they can be really good defensive players, especially Thompson. As just a rookie, Ausar Thompson has averaged 1.3 blocks and 1.2 steals per game while guarding some of the best players in the league. His length and defensive versatility has really jumped off of the page when watching him. Duren has also been good defensively. While there is room for improvement, Duren has done a solid job at defending the paint this season with his rebounds and blocks per game both being up this season from last. These two players have bright spots for the Pistons in what has been a rather dark season.
This season has not gone the way they had hoped it would. When they hired Monty Williams they were hoping for him to get more out of the talent they have which he has not and the Pistons have lost 18 straight games. Williams’ rotations have been weird and he has not committed to a 5th starter yet with Cade Cunningham, Killian Hayes, Jalen Duren, and Isaiah Stewart. They need more consistent lineups and rotations from Williams and hopefully that will lead to them playing better basketball. The season has gotten off of a nightmare start for the Pistons, will they turn it around?
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