Is the Detroit Pistons’ shooting really this bad? Who is to blame?

The Detroit Pistons’ starters have been almost as bad

It’s not just the bench that collectively went cold, as the Pistons’ starters can’t shoot either.

Here are their splits from last year compared to this one:

• Cade Cunningham 43/40–33/23
• Jerami Grant 42/35–39/31
• Saddiq Bey 40/38–36/30
• Killian Hayes 35/27–31/38
• Isaiah Stewart 55/33–53/10

Only Killian Hayes has shown any improvement. I joked last night that Hayes might really be Detroit’s best 3-point shooter and it is starting to look like less of a joke, as the offense has been even worse without him.

Cunningham is really struggling at the moment and last night was the first time it appeared to get to him, as he was hanging his head a bit in the first half. I did like that Casey left him in there to battle and he did make some plays down the stretch that will hopefully get him going.

I agree with fans who say Cade needs to drive more, but until he and his teammates start hitting shots, defenses are going to continue to sag and make dribble penetration difficult.

Jerami Grant is pressing. Saddiq Bey looks lost. Beef Stew went from a guy who looked like a mid-range or even 3-point threat to a guy who can’t finish a dump off at the rim. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a team go this cold all at once.

The easy answer is to blame the coaches but it’s time to start blaming the guys who are missing the wide open shots. At this point the Pistons might be better off if John Beilein was the one out there shooting them instead of taking shots from the fans, as he couldn’t be much worse.