Detroit Pistons key to success on offense is five feet from the rim

What’s holding the Detroit Pistons’ offense back? While 3-point shooting in an obvious flaw, their shooting from five feet or less is a more pressing issue.

Shot selection is paramount to running an efficient offense. Since the Detroit Pistons are a top-heavy team in terms of talent, and their two best players are two front court players in Blake Griffin and Andre Drummond, it would make sense that they would be near the top of the league in making shots around the rim. However, that is not the case for Detroit at all.

It’s not all Griffin and Drummond’s fault – both of them shot a combined 61.5 percent from five feet or less last season per NBA.com. However, it’s not all that impressive either. The Miami Heat had the 15th highest shooting percentage from five feet or less and shot 61.4 percent, so Griffin and Drummond combined bring you to about league average.

Last season, Detroit was the fifth worst team at shooting from five feet or less (58.4 percent), and only the Knicks, Hornets, Bulls, and the Cavaliers were worse. The main cause of this inefficiency is Reggie Jackson. He shot an abysmal 50.7 percent from five feet or less on 211 attempts. Among all guards last year with at least 200 attempts from five feet or less, he was the fourth worst in the entire league. Among starters, only Elfrid Payton was worse in this category.

This stat isn’t an outlier either for Jackson. His percentage from that range has been consistent with his time in Detroit and while his time with the Thunder has him closer to 53 percent from five feet or less, that can be attributed to playing mostly against backups.

With Jackson as inefficient near the rim as he has been, the Pistons guards were fourth worst in the NBA by percentage from five feet or less (53.7 percent). They shot at this low percentage while also taking the sixth fewest attempts from that distance.

That means a lot more 3-point shots, which Jackson had a career year in 3-point makes (174) and attempts (471) along with a career high in 3-point percentage (36.9 percentage).

Last year on catch-and-shoot attempts, Jackson was 29th among all guards that played 20+ minutes per game and at least 41 games played in effective field goal percentage at 59.3 percent. Compare that to his off-the-dribble shots where his numbers drop significantly to 46.2 percentage. If Jackson became more of a spot-up shooter, then he could optimize his offensive game.

Jackson becomes a better player when he doesn’t have to create his own offense and if he’s not going to be a good finisher, they should look to making him more of an off the ball player.

Another player that has an issue finishing around the rim is Bruce Brown. Brown is obviously known for his defense, but will need to become a more efficient offensive player in order not to hamstring Detroit’s offense. Last year he shot 49.1 percent from five feet or less on 171 attempts.

And while the guards have been bad on this front, the front court doesn’t shoot enough to balance out the bad inside shooting from the guards. The Pistons were in the bottom half of attempts in all shooting distances from their forwards including the third fewest attempts from five feet or less. If it wasn’t  Griffin taking the shot, the Pistons simply had no other feasible offensive option at that position.

From the center position, the team was dead last in field goal percentage from five feet or less while averaging the sixth most attempts. It’s bad news on all fronts for Detroit from that distance. However, now that the team has made their moves in free agency, is the team in any position to be better in this area?

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Counting everyone brought in from the Thon Maker mid-season trade all the way to Christain Wood being claimed off free agency waivers, the incoming group outperformed the outgoing group from five feet or less by about 2.3 percent. If you added that 2.3 percent to the team’s performance, that gets them to 60.9 percent as a team, and that still would make them the 12th-worst team by percentage. However, most teams are of equal or close to equal talent, so any advantage you can find near the rim is huge for Detroit.

Ish Smith was all right around five feet or less at 57.4 percent, but Derrick Rose was better at 59.7 percent. Zaza Pachulia was a disaster from five feet or less (52.5 percent) so replacing him with Markieff Morris (58.3 percent) and Thon Maker (60 percent) will give even more credibility to their bench offense. The Pistons no longer have to worry about their starting small forward shooting 49.6 percent from five feet or less because Tony Snell was awesome from that range last year (64.2 percent).

The Pistons have usually earned their fame for their defense. But in order to succeed next season, their offense needs to catch up to the rest of the league on shots close to the rim. On paper, they’ve improved in this area, but the next step is to see it manifest on the court.