3 huge overreactions to the Pistons’ blowout loss to the Knicks
The Detroit Pistons are still inefficient!
The Pistons were one of the worst shooting teams in the NBA by any measure last season, something they hope will improve with internal development, as well as the additions of Bogdanovic and Alec Burks.
But it really comes down to three players: Cade Cunningham, Saddiq Bey and Killian Hayes.
Cunningham and Hayes were among the most inefficient players in the league last season and Bey wasn’t far behind, so for Detroit to make a leap, these three guys have to be more efficient.
They didn’t get off a good start last night, as the three combined to shoot just 9-of-33 from the floor for a paltry 27 percent and just 2-of-14 from 3-point range for 14 percent.
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Bey was particularly bad, hitting just 1-of-8 and missing all five of his 3-point shots. His shot was really flat, rushed and just looked off all night. Bey has to find more consistency on his 3-point shot, as he was far too “all or nothing” last season from behind the arc.
The good news is that Detroit did get a lot of wide-open shots despite the Knicks playing good defense, and I expect Cade in particular to hit a lot more of those. He missed several bunnies in the lane that are going to start to fall soon.
Hayes took 13 shots, which is good, but he too played very slowly and wasn’t that aggressive in the half court. The three of them were so sloppy in the first half I started to wonder if they had split a bottle of cough syrup before the game.
It was only the first preseason game (on repeat) but these three guys have to be more efficient, it’s that simple.