Detroit Pistons Season Wrap: The Bench
By Ash Vanclay
As a disappointing season for the Detroit Pistons is well and truly over, the playoffs are quickly passing by too. It’s now time for part two of my season review.
As many of you would know, last week I started off my season wrap with the reserves line up. This week I bring to you the Detroit Pistons bench line up. The bench line up I have used for this article includes: Ish Smith, Reggie Bullock, Stanley Johnson, Tobias Harris, and Aron Baynes.
Last week I mentioned a lack of energy or intensity among some of the Detroit Pistons players in some games throughout the season. It’s not always the case, but watching games you could always tell which games they would need to grind out a result, as opposed to playing nice free flowing basketball.
More from PistonPowered
- Which Detroit Pistons could save Team USA in the Olympics?
- Detroit Pistons could have major roster churn after 2023-24 season
- The best Detroit Pistons to wear each uniform number
- Full Detroit Pistons NBA 2K24 ratings
- Detroit Pistons: Who will sign the remaining NBA free agents?
However, one line up that you could never level this criticism towards, is the bench line up. The four-man lineup combination of Baynes, Harris, Johnson and Smith ended up as the second-most efficient, outscoring opponents by +8.3 points per 100 possessions.
The Pistons bench was actually fourth in the league this season in terms of overall +/- with +1.3, only the San Antonio Spurs, Golden State Warriors, and the Toronto Raptors respectively beating them. The Detroit Pistons bench was also responsible for the third-most stingy defensive rating at 101.3, beaten out again by just the San Antonio Spurs and the Atlanta Hawks.
We know how the bench performs as a team, now let’s find out how they perform individually