3 things to help the Pistons turn the franchise around.
The Detroit Pistons have dropped a franchise record 16 straight losses in a row. There’s a lot of reasons for this month long skid, but ultimately the team’s performance is due to a poorly constructed roster, and overall lack of NBA quality talent on it. While this season appears to already be lost, all hope is not completely lost on this team, as they do have a few cornerstones in place to build around in Cade Cunningham, Jalen Duren, Ausar Thompson and Jaden Ivey. These guys are young, and talented players with a lot of potential that need to have a competent roster built around them not only to help them develop as professionals but also to help and lift this once proud franchise out of a rebuild that they have been stuck in for what seems like over a decade.
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Acquire some assets: No matter how it gets done, the Pistons need to make a few moves here before the trade deadline to help with the outlook of this team beyond this season. Currently the Pistons only own their own draft picks, so shipping out a couple of players in exchange for draft pick compensation is a start. Some names like James Wiseman, Killian Hayes, Alec Burks, Bojan Bogdanovic, Monte Morris and Joe Harris are all guys that should be considered as potential trade bait for various reasons. Some are aging veterans that other teams would take on, some are failed projects or fliers taken by the team that it is time to move on from, and some are just guys that do not fit the roster and what Detroit would like to build around. Look for the Pistons to be active between now and the trade deadline with plenty of names being thrown around, and potential contenders to be interested in buying low on some of these pieces.
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2. Give Jaden Ivey more playing time: Maybe one of the more frustrating points of this season so far has been the inconsistent playing time that 2022 #5 overall pick Jaden Ivey has gotten from new head coach Monty Williams. Williams had been quoted mentioning that minutes needed to be earned on this team, but with the lack of overall talent top to bottom on the roster it’s hard not to point to the lack of playing time for Ivey as a concern. He has been getting more run as of late, as Killian Hayes was again reduced to a reserve role and Ivey entered the starting lineup. The up and down role is frustrating especially when the team is performing as poorly as they are currently. Ivey averaged 16.3 points, 5.2 assists and 3.9 rebounds last season, given that Cade Cunningham missed most of last season so Ivey seen a featured role in the offense his rookie season. This team needs to get its best players out on the floor, and allow them to learn, develop chemistry and grow as professionals together, and let the wins and losses fall where they may for the rest of this season until some more quality NBA talent is acquired to help fill out this roster around them.
Photo Credit - AP Carlos Osorio
3. Spacing and Three Point Shooting: Spacing and three point shooting are two of the most prominent factors in contributing to winning offense in the NBA in 2023. The spacing on this Pistons team is atrocious. Cade Cunningham and Jaden Ivey need proper spacing on the floor to maximize their effectiveness especially when sharing the floor together. Detroit is dead last in the NBA in three point attempts per game, that coupled with the spacing issues that the team faces night in and night out and you start to see how this team is in the midst of a franchise record setting losing streak. Bojan Bogdanovic and Joe Harris who are arguably the best shooters on the team, have missed all of and most of the season respectively, and both should be getting close to returning to the lineup, Bogdanovic as soon as this weekend. Getting both of those players back in the lineup will provide some help in both the spacing and three point shooting department that the Pistons so desperately need, but ultimately it’s a roster construction issue and the injuries to some of their better players have just completely sunk them. The Pistons need to acquire floor spacers whether this season or going forward who are able to shoot the three ball, which will help to open up the offensive opportunities a bit for guys like Cunningham and Ivey.
