The Detroit Pistons lost with their “can’t lose” lineup against the Spurs. With half the roster sidelined with injury, the Pistons went with three rookies and 20-year-old Sekou Doumbouya in the starting five.
When you are a rebuilding team and can start four young guys, you really can’t lose, as they are getting key developmental minutes even though the team took the L.
It wasn’t a banner night for the Pistons, who failed to score 100 points, something that has happened far too often this season.
The Detroit Pistons have a lot of similar players (more on that later) and are going to have these types of nights until they find a few guys who can shoot consistently.
On a night when offense struggled, I took a look at some numbers that stood out to me.
Here are three interesting statistics that emerged from the loss to the Spurs.
Detroit Pistons: Free throws
The Pistons’ bench got the game within three points in the fourth quarter before the Spurs ultimately put it away, but the Pistons were really undone by their pathetic free-throw shooting.
Detroit went just 13-of-22 from the line for 59.2 percent. You won’t win many games when you give away this many points at the line.
This wasn’t just a one-night anomaly. The Detroit Pistons are 21st in the NBA in free-throw shooting this season, and have at least eight players who shoot below league average from the line.
Both Jerami Grant and Saddiq Bey are excellent, but most of the Pistons’ regulars are not, including Mason Plumlee (67 percent), Isaiah Stewart (66 percent), Josh Jackson (72 percent), Hamidou Diallo (67 percent) and Tyler Cook (47 percent, ouch).
It’s unacceptable for a professional basketball player to shoot less than 75 percent from the free-throw line and it is something Detroit needs to improve if they want to make a leap as a team next season.
Detroit Pistons: Josh Jackson’s strange stats
It’s really hard to know what to make of Josh Jackson.
He had 29 points last night and has been playing well of late. Jackson is averaging 16.1 points and 4.2 rebounds over his last ten games, which has been one of his better stretches of the season as a scorer.
But when you dig a bit deeper the numbers start to get weird. I’ve talked about how Jackson needs to get better from behind the arc and at taking care of the ball.
During this ten-game run, he has shot much better from 3-point range, hitting 45 percent. But (and there is ALWAYS a “but” with Jackson) he has only shot 46 percent overall. He’s been scoring a lot of points but is still doing it inefficiently. Jackson is shooting just 43 percent from the field on the season, which is 21st in the NBA for shooting guards.
His 3-point shooting has improved mostly due to fewer attempts but Jackson is still inefficient as a scorer.
How about turnovers? Well, in these ten games Jackson has averaged 2.2 assists, which is not great for a guy who handles the ball as much as he does. Jackson’s 26.6 usage rate is the highest of his career but his assists haven’t gone up.
What has gone up? His turnovers. Jackson is averaging 2.6 turnovers per game over the last ten and 2.2 per game for the season to 2.1 turnovers.
If Jackson wants to hit another level as a player it’s clear where he needs to improve. He has to be more efficient scoring the ball and he has to cut down on the turnovers.
I want to get excited about Jackson’s potential and he looks like a real one at times but there are a lot of players in the NBA who can score if they can take as many shots as they want and don’t have to worry about turnovers.
Detroit Pistons: Tyler Cook’s “right under the rim” range
Tyler Cook reminds me of a quote from the movie “Hoosiers” (I hate this movie btw, sorry) where coach Norman Dale tells rarely used bench player Everett, “Don’t shoot the ball unless you’re under the basket all by yourself!”
This must be the instruction Dwane Casey gives to Tyler Cook because my man does nothing but dunk the ball.
I saw someone mention this on Twitter and did some investigating that turned up some funny stats.
Tyler Cook is shooting 66 percent on shots less than five feet from the basket. He is shooting a god-awful 30 percent on shots between five and nine feet.
On all other shots? Zero percent. That’s right, zero.
Not only has Cook not made a single shot beyond nine feet this season, he hasn’t even attempted one.
Cook has had some nice moments for the Pistons this season but I have a hard time imagining him in the rotation next season if he can’t shoot even a little.
The Detroit Pistons already have a lot of athletic guys who can’t shoot, so one of the trio of Cook, Jackson or Hamidou Diallo needs to learn how if they want to separate themselves from the pack.
The Pistons have some nice storylines this season but are still far from being a good team and need to work on the basics if they want to make a jump next season.