The Detroit Pistons have leadership issues according to team
After a lopsided defeat from the New Orleans Pelicans, Detroit Pistons are looking for someone to provide leadership.
Some nights, the Detroit Pistons can be a really fun team to watch. Other nights, the Pistons can be a really frustrating team to watch.
One night they are throttling the Cleveland Cavaliers or Golden State Warriors, but the next night they are losing to the Brooklyn Nets or Los Angeles Lakers.
What’s become apparent about this team midway through the season is that they have issues overlooking opponents.
This issue, according to players on the team, is a lack of accountability or leadership.
"Forward Marcus Morris: “We are coming out with no energy. Everybody has to hold each other accountable. We come out and aren’t playing hard on both sides of the ball. After a while, it gets real old.”And then it was Brandon Jennings’ turn.“You gotta challenge your teammates,” Jennings said. “This is a big boys league so you can’t get in your feelings.“Guy says something, say something back, squash it up and let’s go. I just think that’s healthy. Great teams in the league have confrontation. They have guys talking.”"
Jennings went on to say that he thinks the leadership needs to come from the guys who run the show on offense, the point guards.
"“I definitely stepped in and took control of everything,” Jennings said. “We definitely need that now. Regardless, it has to start from the point guards – from me and Reggie.“We’re the ones controlling everything and doing everything on the court – and we have the ball in our hands 90% of the time so it definitely has to come from us.”"
I don’t think that the leadership necessarily HAS to come from the point guards, but there definitely needs to be someone on the team who plays a prominent role giving maximum effort on each side of the ball every game.
That means one of either Andre Drummond or Reggie Jackson.
Both of the Pistons’ stars take plays–or even games–off defensively. There are going to be nights where shots aren’t falling, but there’s no excuse for not giving good effort on defense.
For the Pistons to become a more consistent team one or both of Jackson and Drummond need to be tone setters. When your best players play hard every night, the rest of the team typically follows.
If I were Stan Van Gundy I would have a private conversation with both players about giving great effort all of the time.
If Jackson and or Drummond can step their effort up on a consistent basis, the Pistons could be a dangerous team to play come playoff time.