3 takeaways from the Detroit Pistons 109-89 loss to the Chicago Bulls

This is not Dwane Casey’s fault

One of the easiest scapegoats in any of the four major sports is this – blame the coach. That’s more or less the most obvious person to blame when things start going wrong, right? It’s happening in Detroit, but it’s not warranted.

Though nearly everyone would concede that Casey religiously playing Thon Maker over Christian Wood seems counter-intuitive, that’s one of the only major flaws we’ve seen him have this season. His in-game adjustments are picking up, and even then Maker/Wood debacle is starting to work itself out as Wood is regularly seeing more minutes as the season rolls along.

During the loss to the Bulls, there was a stretch between the third and fourth quarters where the Pistons were shooting just 1-19 from the floor.

Not only do I not understand how that is actually a true statistic, but when it is true, to blame the coach after such a poor effort across the board is just baffling.

Detroit has a problem on defense, and that can be accredited to injuries but at the end of the day it sometimes seems like an effort issue. In terms of their offense, Casey is often the “stay the course” type of coach. On some nights your shots won’t fall, and the opposition’s will. However, through that Casey will keep the same offensive strategy, as was the case against Miami.

Casey will likely be the head coach in Detroit for another year or so, and that’s okay. At the end of the day even if the Pistons do decide to head for a rebuild, he’s an exceptional developmental coach. No matter the case, Casey will be in Detroit for awhile.