The Detroit Pistons have benefited from Reggie Bullock’s hot shooting in their starting lineup. Can he continue putting together these performances?
Dwane Casey became the head coach of the Detroit Pistons this past off-season after having a very successful tenure in Toronto.
From the beginning, he’s expressed that he wants his team taking more three-point shot attempts and more shots around the rim. Eliminating the mid-range game has been a trend for many NBA teams over the past few seasons.
Casey has brought that same ideology to Detroit. The team is taking nearly five more three’s a game compared to last season.
Unfortunately, that hasn’t exactly translated to more success from outside. The Pistons are only connecting on 33 percent of their three-point shots.
That number should increase with the combination of both Luke Kennard and Reggie Bullock being in the starting lineup now.
Bullock has put together some very nice performances in back-to-back games.
He scored 24 points against the Bucks, which was a career high for him. He then broke that a couple nights later against the Timberwolves with 33 points.
In that stretch, he went 12-for-19 from long range (63%). Overall, he was 60 percent from the field over both games.
However, it’s not just his play in the last couple of games that has been impressive. As the season has progressed, Bullock has been trending upward.
October
FG%: 32.8
3P%: 25.0
TS%: 44.4
+/-: -4.9
November
FG%: 44.7
3P%: 41.4
TS%: 61.7
+/-: +9.7
December
FG%: 50.8
3P%: 48.6
TS%: 67.0
+/-: +1.8
How’s he been able to have this much success?
Part of it has to be his health. Bullock has tweaked his ankle on multiple occasions this season that has held him out of eight games.
He missed a week from December 5 to December 12 where he was inactive. Since returning, Bullock has looked like a completely different player.
Another reason for the recent success has a lot to do with confidence. Bullock told Rod Beard from the Detroit News about how his teammates and coaches have instilled that confidence in him:
"“I give praise to my teammates, for continuing to tell me to shoot the ball with rhythm. They know I’m a great shooter and the coaches were telling me to step right into it and let it go every time,” Bullock said. “They believe in me and saw shots falling. I was like, ‘(Expletive), I feel like I’m the best shooter in the league; I just have to keep shooting.’”"The biggest reason for Bullock’s success has to be the personnel on the floor with him.
Casey adding Luke Kennard into the starting lineup has given everyone a little more room to breathe lately.
However, opposing teams continue to put all of their focus on Blake Griffin and Bullock is reaping the benefits.
All five defenders on the floor have their eyes on Griffin before he kicks it out to Bullock with for the open three-point jump shot.
Covington does a nice job of trying to recover but shooters of Bullock’s caliber only need a tiny bit of space to capitalize.
Here’s another example of that.
There’s no reason that he can’t continue to have these types of performances as long as opposing defenses are putting all of their effort into stopping Griffin.
Hopefully everyone else can benefit from an extra shooter that’s firing on all cylinders being in the lineup. It should help give Kennard and Reggie Jackson a little bit more of an advantage with the extra spacing.
The Detroit Pistons have been desperate for a consistent shooter on a nightly basis. With good health, confidence, and personnel being an advantage, Reggie Bullock could continue his war path.