The Detroit Pistons were blown out by the New York Knicks 117-96 in the first preseason game of the season.
Yeah, yeah, yeah it’s only preseason, so before you feel the need to remind me in the comments, I am well aware that IT IS ONLY PRESEASON.
But the Pistons were sloppy and bad even for a preseason game, and some of their biggest flaws from last season already reared their ugly heads.
There were some positives of course. Jaden Ivey mostly looked comfortable in his first game and led Detroit in scoring with an efficient 16 points. He flashed his otherworldly speed, but also showed patience on some nice hesitation moves that got him to the rim.
Bojan Bogdanovic is already paying off, as he knocked down 3-of-5 from long range, showing why that trade was a big win for Detroit.
Isaiah Stewart looked comfortable shooting 3-pointers, but only grabbed one rebound in over 20 minutes and continued having trouble catching the ball and finishing in traffic when Cade Cunningham and Jaden Ivey drew in the defense and set him up.
It was only the first preseason game, but it was ugly, so here are three overreactions.
The Detroit Pistons still can’t take care of the ball or shoot!
Two areas of focus this season will be reducing turnovers and increasing 3-point efficiency, so this first preseason game did not inspire a ton of confidence.
The Pistons were 20th in the NBA in turnovers last season and coughed it up 21 times last night against the Knicks, including four for Cade Cunningham and three for Saddiq Bey, who was flat-out awful and looked like he was playing with a greased ball in the first half.
Cade coughed it up on the very first play of the game and it was the type of turnover he absolutely has to cut out, as it was just a lazy pass and not even that well defended.
Luckily, the slow-paced Knicks only scored 20 points off those turnovers, but most teams are going to bury you if you turn it over more than 20 times in a game.
The Pistons were also terrible from 3-point range last season, coming at or near the bottom of the league in nearly every 3-point shooting category. Things weren’t any different last night, as they hit just 13-42 for 31 percent as a team.
If Detroit turns the ball over this much, and shoots this poorly again, they will be in the Victor Wembanyama sweepstakes very soon. Luckily, this game didn’t count.
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.
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.
Detroit Pistons: Jalen Duren is ahead of schedule
I thought Jalen Duren looked like the best big man on the floor last night for the Pistons, as he was aggressive on the boards, ran the floor hard and challenged shots.
He even had a few nice switches and defensive stands on the perimeter, which is usually the most difficult defensive adjustment for young bigs when they get to the NBA.
Duren ended the game with 14 rebounds and a block in just 24 minutes and had the best plus/minus of any of the guys who played more than 20 minutes. He only scored two points but should have had a couple of more dunks had the Pistons’ guards been able to get him the ball, as both Cade and Killian tried to get it to him in the post but threw it off the top of the backboard.
All signs are now pointing to Duren being part of the rotation to start the season, especially with Nerlens Noel out with an injury. He certainly didn’t look like the youngest player in the NBA last night, and Detroit is going to need his size.
The only problem I see is that Duren playing backup center leaves Marvin Bagley III as the power forward in the second unit which is not ideal. He launched two 3-point shots last night (bricked them both) underscoring how he should be taking most of his shots from inside of nine feet.
We can’t get too worked up about the first preseason game, but it would have been nice to not see some of Detroit’s biggest weaknesses on display right away.