The Detroit Pistons struggled offensively in their opening night loss to the Chicago Bulls and could have used Cade Cunningham.
Detroit hopes to get the number one pick back to action soon, but there is still no timeline for his return and they are going to be cautious, which is smart.
The Pistons defended and rebounded well enough to beat the Bulls on opening night, but just couldn’t buy a bucket, especially from long range, where they shot just 21 percent overall.
There were some positives from the game, especially defensively, but the Pistons are going to have to find a way to score without Cunningham if he does have to miss some more games.
While the Pistons don’t have title aspirations, they want to compete for a play-in spot this season and can’t fall into too big a hole with Cade out.
Here is how they can stay afloat until he returns.
The Detroit Pistons need better shot selection
The Bulls played tough defense against the Pistons, so it wasn’t surprising that they struggled offensively in the first game of the season.
But I thought they rushed their shots at times and took some bad “hero ball” shots that they need to avoid.
Saddiq Bey showed some things we wanted to see, but also took a few tough, contested 3-point shots that he should have passed up.
Same with Jerami Grant, who also forced things a few times and took some wild shots in the paint that should have been passes.
Without one of their primary playmakers, the Detroit Pistons are going to have to be patient and trust that ball movement will eventually lead to better shots. The spacing was off without Cade Cunningham, so the Pistons are going to need to create it by keeping the ball moving.
Detroit Pistons: Keep going to the rim
The Pistons were very good at getting to the rim at times, even though they didn’t always achieve positive results.
Bey and Grant both took the ball to the rim effectively at times, which is something they need to continue to do with Cade Cunningham out. Bey had some nice finishes and dishes, which was good to see.
Grant needs to get better at finding open teammates once he gets into the lane, as he forced some shots and missed opportunities for assists.
Killian Hayes didn’t make any shots, but he did have some aggressive takes and a few that rattled out. However, he too needs to be more aware of his surroundings, as he had one take that looked like an easy layup when he beat Lonzo Ball off the dribble, but then he pulled up for a fadeaway instead of playing into the contact.
This team doesn’t have many playmakers with Cade Cunningham out, but they still need to keep trying to penetrate, as they can get better shots for themselves and teammates.
Detroit Pistons: Lean into the defense
With Cade Cunningham out, the Detroit Pistons don’t have many great one-on-one offensive players.
This team is built around long, athletic defenders like Josh Jackson, Hamidou Diallo and Grant but none of them are great shooters.
Instead of trying to force more offense into the rotation with a heavy dose of Frank Jackson, I would lean into the better defenders on the team and try to win ugly until Cade gets back.
Josh Jackson didn’t have a great night offensively and made some dumb turnovers, but he would have given the Pistons a better chance against Zach LaVine than Frank Jackson did. Frank is the better offensive player of the two, but he is going to have a tough time against big shooting guards like LaVine.
I’m hoping coach Casey will just lean into what the Pistons do well, which is defend and not sacrifice that advantage for the slight chance at more points.
Overall I was happy with the effort against the Bulls and hopefully the next time these two teams play Cade Cunningham will be in the lineup and there will be a different result, but until he gets back the Pistons are going to have to play smarter on offense and rely on their defense to win games.