Three Takeaways From the Detroit Pistons loss to Warriors

The Detroit Pistons fell to the Warriors 116-106 in a game where Blake Griffin left early due to a concussion. With the Pistons now 0-4, what have we learned?

The Detroit Pistons were shooting under 30% from the field and still led the Golden state Warriors in the second half. That could not last forever. Injuries’ to Blake Griffin and Killian Hayes did not help things.

Here are three quick takeaways:

1. The Pistons might have the worst offense in the entire league

The Detroit Pistons had a little bit of success against the Atlanta Hawks offensively but, through four games, they are a bottom-five offensive team in the league.

The scary thing is that the Pistons have started the season against four teams that are considered to be poor defensively. Going off of last season’s stats, the Pistons’ opponents were ranked: 20th, 30th, 28th, and 26th, respectively, in defensive efficiency.

With the possible exception of Cleveland, who has made some changes that may have resulted in real defensive improvement. There isn’t much reason to believe that things will be much different defensively for those outfits. As such, given the putrid results offensively, it bodes poorly for the Pistons when they start to face off against teams that are actually good defensively.

On the plus side, the Pistons defense has clocked in at just mediocre after four games, and the teams they’ve played (once again with the possible exception of Cleveland) do figure to mostly be pretty good offensively, so there may possibly be some hope that the Pistons avoid being a disaster on that end of the floor.

2. Jerami Grant and Josh Jackson are the best wing pairing the Pistons have had in over a decade.

The bar here is admittedly low, the only real competition was the brief Tobias Harris/Marcus Morris partnership.

Both guys also defend at a high level and both are tearing up opposing teams on offense. Grant finished with 27 points and Jackson added 17, and both were the only Pistons to manage any sort of success scoring the ball Tuesday.

There is still some question as to how these two will hold up over the long-term.

Grant’s ability to get to the rim so quickly, when he gets the ball already in motion, will start to get on opposing scouting reports. Teams will send help to make him a passer.

Josh Jackson has been an objectively negative NBA player until about two weeks ago, so nothing is set in stone here. But both guys have played great ball so far and look like real victories for general manager Troy Weaver and the Pistons front office.

3. Killian Hayes has to get more comfortable and confident with his shot

The basic fact here is that Killian Hayes does, at some point, need shots to start falling.

For now, it isn’t the biggest concern. The eye-test is far more important than actual results for young point guards, since almost all of them are bad NBA players when they first start, but that is also part of the issue.

Back in Europe playing for Ulm, Hayes was one of the more confident players you would see. He would take any opportunity to create looks for himself and others. So far, this season he has played with a tentativeness that isn’t helping himself. This isn’t a huge shock, he’s very young and had basically no training camp. But he needs to try and assert himself, and not be afraid of missing shots and instead simply focus on getting to his spots and letting it rip when he gets there.

Most of his best plays have come when he’s able to make quick reaction passes, where he doesn’t have time to overthink the play. He needs that with his shots as well.

Blake Griffin (concussion) and Killian Hayes (ankle) were unavailable due to injuries for most of the second half. Hopefully, they will be available for Friday’s game with the Boston Celtics.