Detroit Pistons: Is Dwane Casey to blame for anemic offense?

Why the offensive struggles are Dwane Casey’s fault

I don’t think Dwane Casey is fully to blame, as I said, players have to hit shots and the Pistons missed a ton of wide-open ones last night.

But some of the numbers don’t add up here. The Pistons are dead last in 3-point percentage in the NBA, yet take the third most attempts of any team.

Their motion offense is full of dribble handoffs and lateral movement that rarely ever goes downhill, leading to a lot of isolations and three point shots.

The Pistons currently don’t have the one-on-one talent to win with isolation plays, and they can’t shoot, so Casey is not running an offense that is designed for the strengths of his team.

He has two very good passers in Cade Cunningham and Killian Hayes who are known for their work in the pick-and-roll, yet the Pistons rarely ever run these types of plays or work to their strengths.

Instead they run this 3-man weave with dribble handoffs that never allows Cade or Killian to make plays. It is frustrating to watch, as it’s like Casey is running an offense for a team that doesn’t exist.

This team should be trying to get to the rim, getting downhill and trying to pick up fouls, which could be a strength. Instead they are weaving around the perimeter and chucking 3-point shots which they clearly can’t make right now.

While it’s not on Casey to make the open shots, it is on him to make adjustments and this team has failed to score 100 points in 4-of-7 games and has yet to score at least 110 points, which is pretty much average for an NBA offense in the modern game.

Something has to change, and since the Pistons can’t completely revamp their roster, the changes are going to have to be systemic and that starts with Casey.

I don’t fully blame the coach, as the Detroit Pistons are simply not making shots that NBA players should be able to make, but knowing that, he needs to adjust and do it quickly.