The Detroit Pistons have started the season winless without rookie Cade Cunningham in the lineup.
It appears that Cade Cunningham will play tonight and we’ll finally get to see the number one pick in action against the Orlando Magic.
Things haven’t started as planned, but it’s far too early to panic after just four games even though the Pistons are the NBA’s lone winless team.
There have been some surprises through the first four games, both positive and negative, so let’s take a look at the biggest ones so far, starting with the good.
Detroit Pistons: Saddiq Bey has found another level
Saddiq Bey has not shot the ball well from long range yet, but we’ve still seen a huge leap from the second-year player so far.
Bey is getting it done from inside the arc, unleashing a new array of post moves, Euro steps and pump fakes to get closer to the rim for his points.
Bey has been one of the top sophomores in the NBA so far this season, averaging 18.3 points, 9.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists so far in the young season.
Considering he has done this while shooting just 30 percent from 3-point range, fans should be excited, as Bey’s averages will certainly continue to climb as he finds his shot.
Most considered Bey’s ceiling to be a 3-and-D wing who played tough defense and knocked down long-range shots, but he is showing that he can be much more and is starting to look more like a young Jimmy Butler, a guy who can be a threat for 20 points and 10 rebounds every night.
The Pistons may be winless but you have to be excited about Saddiq Bey.
Detroit Pistons: The shooting has been atrocious
I don’t think anyone was going to mistake the 2021-22 Detroit Pistons for peak Golden State Warriors when it comes to 3-point shooting, but I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a team start a season this collectively broke from long range.
The Pistons are shooting just 25 percent from 3-point range as a team. Pretty much the entire team outside of Trey Lyles has started horribly.
They’ve been so bad that Killian Hayes is second on the team in 3-point percentage, hitting 33 percent so far.
Kelly Olynyk, Jerami Grant, Frank Jackson, Josh Jackson and Hamidou Diallo have all been shooting bricks. Diallo has yet to make a 3-point shot, which may get him dropped from the rotation when Cade Cunningham returns.
Hopefully getting their best playmaker back will help get more open looks, but a lot of these looks were open, the Detroit Pistons simply missed them.
Fans are quick to blame Dwane Casey’s offense but he’s not the one out there shooting all of these bricks. All teams go through cold stretches but this one has just been amplified because it is at the beginning of the season.
I am not surprised the Pistons are not a top shooting team but I never expected them to be this bad to start the season.
Detroit Pistons: What happened to the bench?
The Detroit Pistons had the highest scoring bench in the NBA last season. This is a bit misleading, as part of the reason this was true is that their starting lineup was so bad.
But the bench was expected to be a strength this season, especially since the starting lineup is so young and so far that has not been the case.
The Pistons have dropped to 16th in the NBA in bench scoring so far this season and 20th in +/- through the first four games.
Surely this will change as guys return to their normal roles and start hitting some shots, but the bench so far has gone from a strength to a weakness.
Outside of Saddiq Bey, there hasn’t been much to be excited about this season, as the Pistons have shot worse than anyone would have expected and have gotten exactly nothing from the bench that was supposed to be a strength.
With Cade’s return probable for tonight, hopefully some of these problems will start to correct themselves.