Saddiq Bey turned his season around with the long gun

Saddiq Bey has had a strange season for the Detroit Pistons.

He started off ice cold at the beginning of the season when he was very clearly trying to add some new offensive wrinkles to his game.

Bey became known as a 3-point specialist after his rookie season, in which he broke most of the Pistons’ rookie records for long-range shooting.

He got away from that at the beginning of the season, trying to drive to the basket more, post up and make himself more of a well-balanced offensive player and not only a guy who shoots the “long gun” as George Blaha would say.

Wins were never the most important part of this season, so I am glad that Bey used part of it to add nuance to his game and change how defenders approach him.

But let’s face it, his season turned around when he started launching more 3-point shots again.

Saddiq Bey is at his best when he is shooting more 3-pointers

Through the first 29 games of the season, Bey was attempting just 6.2 from long range per game, which was actually down slightly from his rookie season.

The worst part is that he was only making 26 percent of them, one of the big reasons the Pistons’ offense got off to a historically slow start that made them look like a team from the early 2000’s.

It was an ugly start for Saddiq Bey in particular and there was actually a time when coach Casey hinted that he might benefit from a stint in the G-League.

Bey didn’t let him get him down, but instead went to work and got back to the thing that he does well, which is shoot a high volume from 3-point range.

Maybe it was the headband, or maybe it’s just that Bey is more of a 3-and-D guy in reality, but he’s been a different guy in his last 18 games.

Bey is shooting 8.8 per game from long range over that span, hitting 36.6 percent of them, a marked improvement from his bad start.

He’s still only hitting 33 percent on the season, but he’s been more of a 3-point threat lately and that is what the Pistons really need.

With Cade Cunningham creating space and drawing defenders, the Pistons need guys who can spot up and hit the open 3-point shot to make defenses pay when they collapse on dribble penetration.

Saddiq Bey needs to be one of those guys, so while it was nice to see him experiment and add to his offensive repertoire, in the end, shooting 3’s is what the Detroit Pistons need him to do.

Bey has been playing like a long-term piece of the puzzle for the Pistons and they need him to keep launching and making 3-point shots.