Final Reactions to the Pistons loss against the Sixers

Two nights ago, on October 23rd, the Detroit Pistons lost to the Philadelphia 76’ers 97-86. This loss has motivated many fans to criticize the team. It’s hard to say they are unjustified in doing so; Good NBA teams are supposed to beat teams they are better than at home.

I personally don’t think the Pistons are a bad team. But, they did show us some things last night, and most of those things are negative. Let’s start with a topic illuminated best by the picture above.

Jon Leuer cannot guard Ben Simmons

I am not here to pass judgment on whether Jon Leuer should ever be in the starting lineup. That is a debate that will be settled throughout the season, one way or another, of that I am sure.

Instead, I am highlighting how tough of a cover Ben Simmons is, and how unequipped the Pistons are to guard him. There is a new type of player in the NBA: the 6’11 point forward. Strong, ball-handling, incredibly athletic big men.

Kevin Durant, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and now Ben Simmons. And what terrifies me is, I have no clue who on the Pistons can guard them. Stanley Johnson was -18 in 17 minutes Monday, mostly covering Simmons. Anthony Tolliver couldn’t keep up with him either. But Jon Leuer just got completely destroyed by Simmons.

The Pistons don’t really have anyone tall and agile enough to cover him right now, and he has a triple-double to prove it. My one crazy theory was to try putting Eric Moreland on him next time, but that would just be an experiment. I will say, however, that the bigger problem for the Pistons last night was that……

Joel Embiid is for real

Yep, he’s for real. A lot of people have been discussing his talk trash towards Andre Drummond. He certainly won the matchup last night, of that I won’t argue. But I still think Andre didn’t play as bad as people are saying.

Call me a homer but I thought this was a pretty cocky statement. Embiid shot the ball well yesterday, and I’m not going to question his talent or results. The man ended the game with a remarkable 41.3 net rating. But he still had 7 turnovers yesterday. Andre Drummond had 4 steals. I can do that math.

Andre also put him in foul trouble, Embiid ended the game with 5 fouls. Those fouls kept him off the floor in the 3rd quarter and Andre dominated Amir Johnson during that time.

What really hurt us with Embiid was how much gravity he creates on the court. Andre has to stay near him and can’t help out against Simmons, otherwise, Embiid will get the ball and score.

When Andre could guard Embiid, it didn’t go a lot better. Embiid is a great player, and he had a great shooting night. A lot of fans are criticizing Drummond for not contesting more shots. I think this is a little unfair. I think for many of those shots, there was a low chance of altering the shot, Embiid was getting great position. Instead, Andre focused on getting the rebound.

The sad truth about this team so far is that no one else is rebounding besides him. So it becomes a choice between contesting Embiid’s shot or preventing an offensive board.

Either way, we the fans will get a chance to see this play out December 2nd.

Next topic.

Shooters gotta shoot

I’m going to separate this section into two parts focusing on two players: Luke Kennard and Langston Galloway.

Luke Kennard

Luke has already proven that he can play in the NBA four games into the season. He has a great pump fake which he has turned into some nice dribble drives. The only issue is, he’s turning that into too many dribble drives. I’d like to see Luke unleash more catch and shoot three-pointers.

Not to say he isn’t good at the dribble drive. Watch him here with the nice move on Boban, keeping him honest with his now signature pump fake.

So far this year, Kennard is 1-for-7 from three-point land. I know that could discourage a young shooter from taking more shots. But I have two words of advice for Luke: shooters shoot.

All things said he’s looked nice. Stan Van Gundy has even had him bring the ball up a few times. Look for more of the Pistons shooting guards to run point from time to time.

Langston Galloway

Through three games, Langston Galloway is shooting a blazing 8-for-12 on three-pointers, or 67%. He has looked confident with his shot, shooting the ball without hesitation after catching a pass. He is doing exactly what I’d like to see Kennard do.

The one perplexing thing is that Stan Van Gundy can’t seem to get him the ball. Shockingly, in a night where every other Pistons player had a negative plus/minus, Galloway left the night plus-17. This means that at times when Galloway was on the floor, the Pistons beat the Sixers by 17 points. Now, I think that may be skewed a little by Galloway not playing with Embiid on the court, but it’s still startling nonetheless.

Even more alarming, even though Galloway was on fire when on the court Monday, he only received 13 minutes of playing time. It seems like a massive oversight by the coaching staff to not give him the ball. Particularly on a night when the rest of the team was struggling.

The Pistons need to find ways to continue giving him catch and shoot opportunities, and drastically increase the volume of those as well.