Detroit Pistons: There is a bigger problem with the offense than shooting

Entering this offseason, the Detroit Pistons and their fanbase seem to be approaching the NBA Draft and free agency with shooting in mind. I’ve done plenty on draft picks to add shooting, free agents, and trades, and the rest of the Piston Powered crew has done much of the same.

However, it is becoming clear that shooting is not the only issue that needs solving on the offensive end.

The Pistons were an absolutely awful shooting team, connecting on just 45.2% of their field goals, ranked 24th in the league (or sixth worse). From deep it wasn’t much better, as Detroit was the 23rd best team from the three-point line in 2020-21. And that is counting Wayne Ellington, who was one of the best three-point shooters in the league.

Even from the charity stripe, the Pistons were the 24th best foul shooting team, although they drew the fifth most fouls of any team.

Detroit Pistons: Shooting was bad, passing was worse

Despite all this, the Pistons have another, arguably bigger, issue with their offense. Their passing is simply not NBA caliber, and is in desperate need of work.

Initially, it looks better than their shooting numbers, and the numbers actually are better. The Pistons were 18th in total assists per game, enough to be slightly below average. Their potential assists ranked 17th, which means they actually shoot better on assisted shots than unassisted shots.

However, Killian Hayes was the only Piston who finished in the top-50 passes made club. Each game he would pass the ball enough to rack up 49.8 total passes, good enough for 35th in the league in that category. That is good for a rookie.

The issue is, he was also the only Piston to finish in the top 50 for passes received. This means he had no discernible target to consistently feed the ball to, and no one to really help him move the ball around at all.

The Pistons also finished 6th overall in turnovers per game, which is not a stat you want to be anywhere near the top ten. Many of these turnovers came on either rushed, dumb, or careless passes. Often Detroit would try and kick out across the lane into the corner, where passes were easily deflected and stolen.

Coach Dwane Casey tried to help move the ball, pairing Hayes with another ballhandler: Delon Wright early in the season, and Cory Joseph and Saben Lee later on.

Conversely, Detroit was 23rd across the league in deflections, meaning they were unable to make up ground in that area.

Having players who can knock down catch and shoot shots from anywhere on the court seems like an easy way to build a winning team (worked for the Atlanta Hawks this year pretty well), but without anyone to dish the passes and facilitate, it simply won’t happen.

Killian Hayes is on the way to being a great pass-first guard and I hope he plays a big role in the offense next year but, currently, he’s the only man on the roster who can play big minutes and put up substantial passing numbers.

Between Jalen Green and Cade Cunningham, both will help solve the problem but Detroit needs role players who can pass with confidence to the open shooter without having it swatted away.