Where will the points come from with Detroit Pistons?

The Detroit Pistons are the second lowest scoring team in the NBA. With the loss of leading points producer Jerami Grant for an extended amount of time, now where will the points come from?

The Pistons were not exactly a scoring machine with Jerami Grant in the lineup. Detroit was next to last in scoring among NBA teams (the Thunder, who scored 42 points against them in the fourth quarter, are last), with Grant averaging 20 points a game.

The math is simple. The Pistons score 99.5 points per game. Grant accounts for, on average, about 20.5 of those points. But now we are taking his points away, at least for the next six weeks:

It does not take a basketball genius to figure out this really screws up Detroit on offense, not that they were doing so hot with Grant in the lineup. The healthy players are averaging a total of 79 points a game. If everyone simply scores their current average, that will not even be close to enough.

For anyone who has watched the Pistons play this season, they have two basic plays.

1. Jerami Grant is given the ball and told to do something.
2. Cade Cunningham has the ball and tries to do something.

The only players averaging in double figure are Grant, the already long-term injured Kelly Olynyk, Cunningham and Saddiq Bey, who has struggled with his outside shooting.

After missing the entire preseason and first few games with an ankle injury, Cunningham has come along, and is now the Pistons ‘go-to’ guy down the stretch. But unless Cunningham turns into Wilt Chamberlain, and he can score 100 points in a game, other players need to step up.

The loss of Grant means the 16 shots a game he attempts are up for grabs. Who will take them now? Unless the players intend to stare at each other for 24 seconds, someone has to.

Who will come on to fill the scoring gap of the Detroit Pistons, here are 5 prime candidates:

1. Saddiq Bey He has expanded his game to include more drives and two-point shots, which is good. However, his bread-and-butter of last year, three-point shooting, has been off, sliding from 38% to 30.5-percent. The slump has to be over NOW. Bey has to start knocking triples like he did last season, and it would help alot if he could up the percentage made to 40.
2. Killian Hayes The timidity on offense ends NOW. An occasional three-point shot (he actually has the best shooting percentage on threes among the regulars), some drives to the hoop pretty much has been Hayes’ contribution in terms of scoring himself. But there is no Grant to pass to now, Hayes need to be more aggressive looking for his shot. We are not looking for Hayes to suddenly turn into … Tyrese Haliburton, but he needs to score in double digits every game.
3. Hamidou Diallo Assuming the 6-5 Kentucky grad takes Grant’s spot in the lineup, if only because he is one of the few who can match Grant’s effectiveness on defense. Diallo scored 11 points and looked good in the loss to Washington. He is as athletic as Grant but is four inches shorter and does not have his outside shot. But he is one of two players (Isaiah Stewart the other) who has made over half of his shots. It is NOW time for Diallo to show us the promise he has flashed for three years.
4. Frank Jackson He was a revelation last season. After being let go by the Pelicans, he was signed to a two-way contract last December and shot 40-percent on three-pointers for the rest of the season. Jackson is making just 32.3 percent of his three-point attempts so far, that must change NOW. Jackson needs to shoot like he he did for the Pistons in 2020-21. Wayne Ellington is in L.A., not many alternatives for outside shooting on this team.
5. Isaiah Livers He was recently called up from the G-League Cruise. Coming off a foot injury suffered in college at Michigan,  Livers needed time to heal and was behind in conditioning. As anyone who saw him play for the Wolverines knows, Livers can shoot the three-ball. With Grant out, this is a great opportunity for Livers to NOW see some real NBA playing time. If Livers can hit from beyond the arc like he did in college (43% last season), he might establish himself in the Pistons rotation.

Of course, this is an all-hands-on-deck situation. Every member of the team needs to contribute more offensively. That does not mean just throw up junk. The shots need to be good ones, and actually go in the basket (a major problem already for Detroit).

Not having both Grant and Olynyk to an offensively-challenged team like the Pistons will be a real challenge. But it is a challenge these five players, as well as the others, must accept and take hold of.