If you looked at the scores of the first two Detroit Pistons vs. Chicago Bulls games this season you’d think it was the 1988-89 Pistons taking on Michael Jordan’s Bulls.
The Pistons have managed to hold the Bulls under 100 points in both games, which is a positive, but have failed to even score 90 themselves, which is not.
According to James Edwards III of The Athletic, Saddiq Bey said the mood was “healthy anger” in the Pistons’ locker room:
Saddiq Bey said the mood in the locker room is a "healthy anger."
— James L. Edwards III (@JLEdwardsIII) October 24, 2021
That’s a good thing, as not accepting defeat is the first step in becoming a better team. There have been positives to build on in the first two games, but none of them relate to offense.
The Detroit Pistons have to get some bench scoring
We knew bench scoring and shooting in general were going to be problems for the Detroit Pistons, especially with Cade Cunningham out, as they just don’t have a guy who can consistently break down a defense.
The Pistons used all nine of their bench players against the Bulls and other than one hot quarter from Kelly Olynyk and some 3-point shots by Trey Lyles, they gave the Pistons nothing.
Both Josh Jackson and Hamidou Diallo have been awful in the first two games, and one of them needs to step up or get shipped out before the deadline, as they are too similar and neither of them can shoot.
Look, the entire team was broke last night so it’s not all on the bench but what looked to be a strength coming into the season has been a weakness so far and two of the guys the Pistons are counting on have not stepped up.
The Detroit Pistons cannot shoot
I’m going to have “unhealthy” anger if I have to watch this team shoot like this all season. After shooting a woeful 21 percent on opening night, the Pistons were even worse this time around, shooting just 17 percent from behind the arc.
The starters were a collected 2-of-14 from long range, while the bench was 3-of-14, which isn’t going to win many games.
Some of this will be helped by the return of Cade Cunningham, as he is not only the Pistons’ best shooter, but will also create better shots for his teammates, but still, these first two games have been ugly.
The Pistons’ starting backcourt has been particularly bad, and we may have to see a change there, as both Killian Hayes and Frank Jackson have started ice cold shooting the ball.
It may be time to move Jackson back to the bench to at least try and inject some more size and defense into the starting lineup and balance the scoring.
It’s good that the Detroit Pistons are angry, and let’s hope they can channel that into better offensive execution. The defense has been there so far, but the offense didn’t get the memo that the season has started.