Detroit Will Try to Right The Ship Against Milwaukee
The Detroit Pistons have fallen into yet another rut, this one coming at a costly time. The clock is ticking, and with every loss, the chances of making the playoffs slip even more.
The Pistons are on a three game skid, and there are many reasons for it. But the most prevalent cause is the bench play. In the last three games, the Pistons bench has been collectively outscored by 89 points. That’s almost 30 points per game. It doesn’t matter who’s in your starting lineup, it is impossible to win when your second squad under-performs like that.
The Pistons spark plug, veteran Anthony Tolliver, has scored 14 points. One of the games he scored zero. Other offensive backups, such as James Ennis and Luke Kennard, have scored 27 points, two of which have come from Kennard.
You don’t expect your bench to step on the court and dominate, but you expect them to put up a respectable performance, and being outscored by 30 per game is horrendous.
It shouldn’t be a surprise to see a few lineup changes either. In the last three, the starting lineup of Ish Smith, Reggie Bullock, Stanley Johnson, Blake Griffin, and Andre Drummond have outscored opponents starting lineups by 10.7 points per game. Despite this, all of the players have had a negative plus minus rating every game, except for Bullock breaking even against the Celtics.
One of the more likely injections into the starters may be James Ennis. He may take the starting spot from Stanley Johnson, adding more spacing to a lineup consisting of only one bona-fide shooter. Sacrificing some defense for shooting may be smart.
Another, much less likely move, is inserting Dwight Buycks into the lineup ahead of Ish Smith. While risky, this move has a good potential upside. Smith has a very hard time operating an offense in the half court. He dribbles around for the first ten seconds, and he might take a contested mid range jump shot, or kick it out to someone who can’t shoot. Smith is also one of the quickest players in the league, but it comes at the expense of an immense amount of energy. He plays his best ball in limited minutes.
Dwight Buycks plays better half court ball. He can score from anywhere, although you don’t want to go to him every shot. Dwight also has the speed to work the defense, and find his own shot when the offense breaks down. He does disappear without the ball in his hands, although Smith does the same.
It’s hard to be optimistic after watching the Pistons for the last seven games or so.