3 stats the Detroit Pistons rank near the top of the NBA in
By Keith Alrick
Despite some early season struggles, the Detroit Pistons have found small pockets of efficiency. They will look to build on their small victories.
It’s not even Thanksgiving and just about all of the positivity of the Detroit Pistons’ season is out the window. That’s what a 5-11 start will do. The poor record is enough to have any fan reaching for the panic button, but it’s also how bad they’ve looked in some of the losses.
Blake Griffin didn’t look ready when he returned to the team, which gave the offense as much fluidity as a team of five solos at the YMCA. The hope is that it’s just rust and not a sign of things to come.
With that said, I decided to find three things that the Pistons rank near the top of the league in. This was not an easy task, but sometimes you have to look really hard to find the positives in life.
I found myself on parts of the NBA stats page that I didn’t know existed as I searched for any bright spot I could find. Who knew offensive and defensive miles per hour is a sort-able stat? Needless to say, the Pistons weren’t high on that list.
Catch and Shoot
Believe it or not, the Pistons have the best effective field goal percentage on catch and shoot attempts in the NBA. It makes sense when you think about the hot start to the season from guys like Luke Kennard and Langston Galloway. There was also the game where Tony Snell didn’t miss a shot on primarily catch and shoot attempts.
Catching and shooting is also the only parts of Markieff Morris‘ game that doesn’t make my heart rate spike.
It’s unfortunate they haven’t been able to parlay this hot shooting stretch into more wins, but we’re trying to keep it positive here.
Assist Percentage
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The Pistons are currently 5th in the NBA in assist percentage at nearly 64 percent. So, aside from when they are passing to the other team, the Pistons have been really good at setting each other up with open shots.
A lot of this actually has to do with Griffin and Derrick Rose being out of the lineup which forced the offense to have more ball movement. Last season the Pistons ranked 22nd in this category as the offense was centered around Griffin. It’ll be interesting to see if they end up reverting back to last season’s offense or if they try to change Blake’s role and stick with more of a motion offense.
So far we’ve learned the Pistons are good at passing, catching and shooting. We might just be on to something here!
3 Point Defense (Kind of)
At first glance, this may seem like a weakness. The Pistons are near the bottom of the league in opponent three-point percentage, but they are allowing the 2nd fewest three-point attempts per game. Like I said, sometimes you have to look hard for the positive things.
Next. Blake Griffin goes sneaker shopping with Complex. dark
What it does show is they are doing a good job running teams off of the line. Now they just need to work on not letting the rest of them go in.