The Detroit Pistons will try to get their first win of the season on the road tonight against the Atlanta Hawks.
This is the second game of a three-game road trip that will also see the Pistons play against the Philadelphia 76ers, so it doesn’t get any easier for the Pistons. The Pistons will be without Cade Cunningham for all of this trip and are hoping to avoid a big hole before he returns.
Atlanta made the Eastern Conference Finals last year and is running it back with nearly the same team, so the Detroit Pistons are going to have to work if they want to get that first “W” of the season.
There are some tough matchups for the Pistons, but also some things they might be able to take advantage of. The season is still young and coach Casey is still tinkering with different lineups and groups and there are some things we’d like to see in game three.
Detroit Pistons: An aggressive Killian Hayes
I don’t care if Hayes misses 50 shots tonight, I’d like to see him be aggressive against Trae Young and the Hawks.
Young presents matchup problems for just about anyone, but Killian has a big size advantage that he should try to use to bully the smaller Young around a bit.
Keeping Young in check is no easy task, and one way to slow him down is to make him work on the other end, and that starts with Killian Hayes being aggressive with the ball and trying to get to the rim and finish.
Coach Casey sat down with Killian after last game and showed him some of the spots where he could have taken it all the way to the rack instead of pulling up for fade-aways or off-balance passes.
I would love to see Hayes come out and use his size to push Young around and try to wear him out.
Detroit Pistons: There needs to be more movement in the half court offense
The Pistons scored a whopping 82 points against the Chicago Bulls in the second game, with just about the entire team going broke at the same time.
Part of this came from the fact that the Pistons offense was completely stagnant in the half court.
Neither the ball nor the players were moving much and it often just looked like everyone was waiting for someone else to do something.
This can be partially attributed to the lack of Cade Cunningham, as the number one pick is already the Pistons’ best playmaker and the guy who is most likely to draw a double team.
The Pistons cannot spend the night standing around against the Hawks or they are going to get blown off the court.
We need to see a steady diet of Killian Hayes in the pick-and-roll (preferably with someone who can shoot, like Kelly Olynyk) and for the Pistons’ cutters to actually cut instead of just standing in the corner.
If you don’t have great one-on-one players you need to rely on ball and player movement in the half court, so we need to see more of both for the Detroit Pistons vs. the Hawks.
Detroit Pistons: Casey needs a shakeup in the backcourt
The Pistons have started Frank Jackson and Killian Hayes at guard in both games so far and it has not worked.
Jackson has looked lost in his new role, as he is used to coming off the bench and being the “instant offense” guy who initiates the offense and pushes the pace.
He’s not helping the Pistons as a 4th option, so I’d like to see either Josh Jackson or Hamidou Diallo get more run with the starting unit.
Not only would this give the Pistons a better defense to start the game, but would put Frank Jackson back into his natural role as a bench scorer.
The Pistons have gotten next to nothing from their guards so far, so it might be time to shake things up a bit and try some different combinations of players to see what works.
The Detroit Pistons have defended and rebounded well so far, but their offense has been pathetic. Until something changes I’d lean into the defense, since the Pistons can count on it from night to night.