Twitter questions: Detroit Pistons mailbag 3.0

We took to Twitter this week to find out what questions Detroit Pistons fans had for us. Time for another installment of Piston Powered’s mailbag!

We’ve secured the bag – the mailbag! This edition is being answered by Nicolas Henkel, (aka Motown Noah) one of your site experts and optimistic tweeters here at Piston Powered. You can find me on Twitter (@nicolashenkel) where I provide post game video recaps for every single Detroit Pistons game, as well as occasional live streams on Periscope.

Now let’s get started on some questions! Thank you in advance to all our followers who participated.

This could be tricky. The return of Reggie Jackson will in all likelihood see the end of the Bruce Brown experiment at point guard, and he’ll likely revert back to starting at shooting guard. I’d assume that Dwane Casey will return to the original starting unit of Jackson, Brown, Tony Snell, Blake Griffin and Andre Drummond, at least for a week or so.

Now, given Casey’s tendencies it’s entirely within the realm of possibility that amendments are made. Lineup roulette has no limitations. Luke Kennard is able to be directly involved in offensive sets more frequently when he’s not sharing the floor with Griffin. Casey knows this, and it may cause him to put Kennard back with the second unit.

The backcourt of he and Derrick Rose in that second unit could be special, and in reality that’s where he should be. It’s not a slight against Kennard saying that he should come off of the bench, it’s just that he’s capable of providing a spark that no other Piston can provide when the starters leave the floor.

While in the last three or four games the Pistons defense has begun to slowly improve, some issues have remained the same. Detroit is ranked eighth in the league in opponent field goal percentage as well as opponent three-point percentage. Their inability to close out on shooters along the perimeter has killed them.

There seems to be too much confusion and too many miscommunications happening on defense. Whether it’s certain players getting lost in screens, not switching on time, losing their man on ball reversals, or any assortment of reasons, Detroit has a problem.

Admittedly at times it’s felt like an effort issue, however with a Casey lead team, if you don’t play defense – you won’t play at all.

Hey, I actually just wrote about this! You can check it out here.

To briefly sum up what that article entails – the answer to your question is both.

I understand the appeal to an extent, having an All-Star caliber player paired with Griffin and Drummond could very well open up a small championship window for the Pistons. However, how sure are we that DeMar DeRozan is that  player for Detroit?

His play style is almost the complete opposite of what Casey has implemented on offense for the Pistons, and beyond that comes the cost. Detroit has been on the cusp of a rebuild for the last decade, and I’m not entirely sure that mortgaging your future by dealing young assets and/or draft picks for a player who might  bring you some success is the move here.

This is something that virtually no one has been talking about so far this season. Langston Galloway has been having a spectacular season for Detroit, which included a career high 32 point outing in Charlotte just a few weeks ago. He’s scored at least 10 or more points in his last 13 games, which is a career high streak.

Ever since his arrival in Detroit a few years ago, fans have often been critical of his 3 year $21 million contract. As it stands in his third and final year, Galloway is making $7.3 million. If he keeps up his production throughout a majority of this season, he’s likely going to get a similar contract. Whether that’s from the Pistons or not, he’ll definitely command some attention on the market.

One could argue that Detroit could use his recent success as leverage in a future trade, but that remains to be seen. Personally yes, I think the Pistons should try their best to retain his services.