3-on-3: Deciphering the Detroit Pistons start

1. Well, well, well the Pistons are 3-0 and I think every reasonable human is surprised at some level. What has surprised you most?

Braden Shackelford: Individually, it’s Marcus Morris. He’s been awesome averaging 19.3 points per game, 7.7 rebounds, and 2.3 assists. He’s going to have off nights, but he’s clearly the Pistons most reliable one-on-one player as he can just back down his opponent and turn around for a nice mid-range shot. As a team, I’m surprised at how stifling the Pistons defense has been. They are allowing the seventh best percentage from three at 27.9 percent and they’ve done a good job in help defense situations. Ersan Ilyasova particularly has been good at picking up charges and those are usually contagious. The offense might not be the most consistent, but the team’s defense should keep them in games if they continue to give strong effort on that side.

Brady Fredericksen: I’ve spent countless hours over the past few years making the _etroit Pistons joke. They’ve been so clueless on the defensive end. But these Pistons are playing so hard, and that’s what surprises me. The defense is a product of that, but they’re actually working defensively, giving a consistent effort. The success is not a coincidence.

Tim Thielke: Marcus Morris. He has filled in the biggest hole left by Greg Monroe — the player you can feed the ball to when nothing is working who can create a decent shot. And he has hit a bunch of them. And he doesn’t clog the paint. And he can play average defense at his position.

2. You obviously didn’t expect them to go 3-0, but you had to expect something. What have you seen that you’ve expected, good and bad?

Shackelford: I expected Andre Drummond to take the next step and be a consistent force–we saw this happening after the all-star break and with the acquisition of Reggie Jackson–but I didn’t expect his defense to improve so drastically, or the team’s for that matter. The bad for the Pistons — and it’s minor — is Reggie Jackson’s assist numbers. Much of the Pistons’ offense a season ago came from Jackson/Drummond pick-and-rolls which teams have done a really good job shutting down. That’s lead to some indecision from Jackson. He needs to find the right balance of being aggressive and getting others involved. That hasn’t happened yet. The more effective he is at getting to the basket or pulling up from mid-range, the better his assist numbers will be.

Fredericksen: I thought the offense would be clunky early. It’s been a grind to score the ball, and that is on a few guys. Marcus Morris and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope have been great, but Andre Drummond and Reggie Jackson haven’t really played all that well. To be 3-0 with wins over three good teams is good no matter how you spin it, but it’s interesting that they’ve done it with their two best players playing mediocre at best offensively. They’re going to have to figure out how to get the pick and roll going because, right now, teams are trapping Jackson and not allowing that second pass to Drummond.

Thielke: I expected Stanley Johnson to struggle when facing real NBA players who were trying to win games as opposed to the watered down competition he saw in the offseason. I expected the team to attempt way more threes than they have in recent seasons. I expected Drummond to be a monster on the glass. I expected his post game to continue to struggle. I expected Bullock to get the best opportunity yet of his career.

3. Is this start sustainable? Is it a sign that the Pistons really are moving in the right direction? Or is it just a bad team that caught three teams early in the season?

Shackelford: Credit Stan Van Gundy, this team has made a ton of progress. They still won’t beat the Golden State Warriors or the Oklahoma City Thunder’s of the NBA, but they have a chance to be a five or six seed in the East come playoff time. Their defense has been impressive, but that has to continue for the Pistons to reach a five or six seed in the East. If that happens and their offense shows the ability to score consistently they may even be better than that. I’m still afraid to get too high on this team despite what I’ve already written, but this team has the look and feel of a playoff team.

Fredericksen: I mean, it’s not sustainable in its current form. The Pistons aren’t going to roll to the playoffs and there will be stretches where they lose three games they probably should have won. But this isn’t a franchise that beats good teams consistently, and that’s something that gives the hot start some weight. The Pistons didn’t look pretty, but they’ve looked pretty effective overall. They appear set to be right in the race for the No. 7 or No. 8 seed.

Thielke: The Pistons obviously won’t go 82-0. I’ve already revised up my preseason win prediction by four games (two for the fact that they’ve started 3-0 instead of the 1-2 I would have predicted and two for the rest of the season because the team is looking better than I thought they would). But I still think they are the worst of the league’s teams to open 3-0 (Clippers, Thunder, Warriors, Raptors).