Detroit Pistons need to make Kennard-Bullock duo permanent

Luke Kennard and Reggie Bullock help the starting unit click for the Detroit Pistons in their last game. It’s a combination they should stick with for now.

The Detroit Pistons were able to snap their six-game losing streak on Saturday night against the Boston Celtics.

They used a different starting lineup in this game and it paid off. Reggie Jackson, Andre Drummond, and Blake Griffin have been the team’s most consistent starters.

The combination of Luke Kennard and Reggie Bullock on the wing in that lineup made the Pistons’ offense very effective.

The combination of the two players looked like this:

• 25 points

• 6-for-12 3P

• 9-for-15 FG (60%)

• +6 plus/minus

The big thing to take from the stat line is obviously the three-point shooting. The Pistons are one of the worst teams in that department and need guys to be better from out there in order to have some success.

If they want that to happen, Dwane Casey needs to roll with this starting lineup as the season progresses. It’s their best bet to maximize the potential of the starting unit.

Having Bullock play the small forward position is much better than the others they’ve tested out in the starting lineup.

Stanley Johnson simply wasn’t working. As a starter, he was shooting just 35 percent from the field and 25 percent from deep.

Now that he’s coming off the bench, Johnson is shooting 41 percent from the field and almost 30 percent from deep. He’s also averaging ten points a game off the bench compared to just seven in the starting lineup.

It’s clear that Johnson’s place with the reserve group.

Glenn Robinson III is currently injured and will be out for a little over a week. When he comes back to the rotation, he should be coming off the bench as well.

In the month of December, Robinson is shooting just 23 percent from the field and averaging just two points a game. That’s not starting-caliber numbers.

The combination of Kennard and Bullock in the starting lineup is something I’ve actually wanted to see Casey do for a while.

It’s been difficult because both players have been banged up this season.

The way these two maximize the potential of the starting unit is with spacing. Players weren’t even attempting to close out on Johnson or Robinson when they were in the starting unit.

Bullock is a proven three-point shooter and will cause concern for opposing teams when left open out on the perimeter.

Kennard is the same exact way. Many forget how effective he was as a shooter last season.

Over his last five games, he’s shooting better than 50 percent from the field and 47 percent from deep.

Spacing gives Blake Griffin and Andre Drummond more room to operate. It seems like opposing teams have been able to completely limit what these two can do at times because there’s no threat of an outlet.

Griffin has been suffocated by double teams while Drummond is seeing help defense on many occasions in the paint.

Drummond and Griffin are above average passers that can find people on the floor around them. Bullock and Kennard in the starting lineup gives them more of an opportunity to do that.

This could even help out Reggie Jackson. The starting point guard has struggled with consistency on offense this season.

Part of that has to do with the pressure to create offense. With Bullock in and out of the lineup so much along with the carousel at small forward, Jackson has been forced to be the team’s second option in the offense.

Without the ball in his hands as much because of Griffin playing a ‘point forward’ style of basketball, he’s not been nearly as effective.

With proven shooters on the perimeter, Jackson can now try and take the ball off the dribble and penetrate opposing defenses rather than trying to create offense outside.

That’s been his bread and butter since coming to Detroit and has moved away from it.

Reggie Bullock and Luke Kennard in the offense will help a struggling Detroit Pistons offense.