Detroit Pistons: It’s only preseason, but it would be nice…

Detroit Pistons: It’s only preseason, but it would be nice…

To see better defense

The Pistons have been sloppy defensively, allowing 117, 107 and 115 points in their first three preseason games. Point totals don’t matter in the preseason, but they have been consistently lazy on switches on the perimeter, been out of position A LOT and are giving up way too many wide-open shots.

I am not sure this strategy of switching everything on the perimeter is going to work, as the Pistons lack the perimeter defenders to pull it off. It’s probably their biggest roster weakness and it looks to be worse this season.

If you watched the very first play of the game against the Thunder, the Pistons blew a defensive assignment, which led to a wide-open three-point make while a bunch of guys stood around looking at each other.

Coach Casey has repeatedly said that he wants this team to make a leap defensively, which makes sense, as young teams can compete on defense even if they aren’t polished offensively yet. So even if they lose, it would be nice to see more effort on defense and fewer blown assignments tonight, especially on the perimeter.

For Saddiq Bey to just shoot the ball

Saddiq Bey has the nasty habit of passing on the open catch-and-shoot 3-pointer only to take two dribbles in order to take contested 2-point shot.

Detroit really doesn’t need Bey to score in the post or mid-range, they need him to spread the floor with 3-point shooting. He dribbled into the defense a few times in the last game when he should have just taken the shot right away.

He seems to be in his head a bit, so I wish Coach Casey would just tell him to launch that catch-and-shoot 3-point shot when he is open instead of trying to take two dribbles and shoot a long, contested 2-pointer, which is exactly what every defense wants.

It won’t be the end of the world if the Detroit Pistons lose again tonight, as no season was ever won or lost in the preseason, but some more effort and execution would be nice, even if the game doesn’t count.