The Detroit Pistons are winless in two games to start the preseason, which is not completely unexpected.
Detroit has one of the youngest teams in the NBA, is missing some key veterans and is still working out some of the kinks, which is what the preseason is for.
Dwane Casey is still trying to figure out his starting lineup and depth chart after the Bojan Bogdanovic trade and has some clear challenges, particularly how he is going to use his bigs.
I didn’t expect Detroit to click right away and so far they haven’t, but it’s far too early to panic, as preseason games don’t count and teams are often working on things that they will not try in the regular season.
But there are some reoccurring themes in these games that are somewhat concerning, unless you are one of the fans that hopes the Pistons tank in an effort to land Victor Wembanyama.
While it’s not time to push the panic button, there are some preseason issues that the Detroit Pistons are going to have to iron out.
Detroit Pistons: Turnovers are going to be an issue
The Pistons have turned the ball over 42 times in their first two preseason games, which is a problem that has to keep Dwane Casey up at night.
Preseason games are sloppy, and you’d expect more turnovers than normal given that there are bench and fringe guys playing big minutes and teams are still getting into the flow.
But when your backcourt consists of a second-year player and a rookie, this is likely going to be an issue all season and one Detroit is going to have to correct if they want to compete at all.
Turnovers not only stop your offense from even getting a shot attempt, but often lead to easy buckets going the other way, something Detroit can’t afford as a team that has yet to establish an identity defensively.
While Casey wants his young team to play fast and loose, they have to take better care of the ball, especially at the guard position.
Cade Cunningham, Jaden Ivey and Killian Hayes had 14 turnovers between them in the preseason loss to the Pelicans, and they aren’t going to win many games when that is the case. This has to be a point of emphasis for this young team, especially when it comes to the boneheaded turnovers that aren’t even a result of defensive pressure, but just guys playing lazy and throwing the ball away.
If coach Casey can’t get this under control, he’s going to be on the hot seat eventually, as turnovers are always going to come back on the coach.
Detroit Pistons: Is this team’s 3-point shooting any better?
After going a pathetic 14-49 (28.6 percent) from 3-point range against New Orleans, the Pistons are now below 30 percent as a team in their two preseason games.
Again, you don’t expect teams to be in midseason form in the preseason, but this has been ugly. My question (and this goes back to last season) is why the Pistons are shooting so many of them?
They took more than half of their shots from 3-point range in New Orleans, and just kept chucking them even when they weren’t making them. At some point, don’t you have to change this strategy? Dwane Casey continues to run offensive schemes for the team he wishes he had (one that can shoot) instead of the one he has.
The Pistons and Pelicans took the exact same number of shots in the last game, but the only difference was that only 24 of New Orleans’ shots were 3-pointers, while the Detroit chucked nearly 50 from long range.
This will hopefully improve somewhat when Alec Burks returns, and there will be nights when the Pistons are lights out (happens to every team occasionally) but one guy is hardly going to make that big a difference, so if the strategy is going to be to shoot 57 percent of their shots from 3-point range, this is going to be a long season in Detroit unless there is major improvement.
Detroit Pistons: Can Saddiq Bey and Bojan Bogdanovic play together?
The Detroit Pistons have a lot of interesting pieces, but how they fit together is a complete mystery, especially in certain matchups.
One of the biggest challenges Dwane Casey is going to face is how to maximize his offense, without sacrificing too much on the defensive end.
He’d love to have both Saddiq Bey and Bojan Bogdanovic on the floor at the same time, but this may prove to be problematic, as they are likely the Pistons’ two worst defenders and struggle against the same types of guys.
Both Bey and Bogs are strong enough to handle most power forwards, but not quick enough to hang with some of the quicker wings in the league.
There is almost always going to be a mismatch when they are both on the floor together, and I am not sure the offense they provide is enough to offset it.
In the last game, Casey moved Bogdanovic to the bench to start the game, and we may see more of this, as it not only gives the Pistons some extra size, but also spreads out their shooting a little more between units.
But it also potentially takes spacing away from Cade Cunningham and Jaden Ivey, which is the primary reason they traded for Bogdanovic in the first place.
Both Bey and Bogdanovic are going to play big minutes, so will have some overlapping time together, but it’s going to be a challenge defensively at times and something Coach Casey is going to have to continue to figure out as the season progresses.