The good news is that the Detroit Pistons played their best game of the preseason last night, but the bad news is that they still lost.
Wins and losses don’t matter in preseason, so it was nice to see them play better, though the Pistons still struggled mightily in certain areas.
They showed some of the same concerning problems, but also had their best moments, especially in the second and third quarters, when Detroit scored a combined 71 points and briefly tied the game.
Unfortunately they were flat-out awful in the other two quarters, showing the type of inconsistency you’d expect from a young team in the preseason.
Even the good things came with a splash of bad, so let’s play a little game of good news/bad news with the Detroit Pistons.
Detroit Pistons: Good/bad news from the preseason finale
Good! The Pistons got a ton of open 3-pointers
Bad! They made 28 percent of them
Detroit shot 52 (yes you read that correctly) 3-point shots last night, doing their best impersonation of the James Harden-era Rockets. The good news is that most of them were wide open, especially in the first quarter.
The bad news is that this was by design, as the Grizzlies literally weren’t guarding the 3-point line and just daring the Pistons to take them. I think this is a strategy we’ll see a lot this season until Detroit shows they can consistently knock down long-range shots.
Something has to give here, as the only times Detroit looked comfortable were on transition 3’s when one of the guards drew in the defense and kicked it out. Will coach Casey continue this type of offense or will be see the Pistons try to work the ball to the hoop a bit more? Cade Cunningham looked his best in the mid-range last night and the offense should really start from there.
Detroit Pistons: Good/bad news from the preseason finale
Good! Isaiah Stewart hit 40 percent of his 3-point shots
Bad! He took 10 of them
The Grizzlies played the “Dennis Rodman” defense against the Pistons, completely ignoring Isaiah Stewart on offense as teams used to do to the Worm.
Steven Adams spent most of the first half roaming off of Stewart, playing help defense and just letting Beef Stew shoot from wherever he wanted. Memphis was clearly happy letting Stewart shoot wide-open 3-point shots all night even though he did knock down 40 percent of them.
I like the fact that Stew wasn’t scared and didn’t hesitate on most of the shots he took, and at one point hit three in a row. But do we really want the center shooting 10 from long range every game?
Detroit clearly needs Stewart to be able to stretch the defense in these situations, but that can’t be all he does. He occasionally has to make teams pay in other ways, like cutting to the rim and getting a few easy ones when they aren’t paying him any mind.
I don’t think Stewart is going to shoot that many 3-pointers most nights but this is a defensive strategy Detroit needs to find ways to take advantage of other than just playing four on five with Stewart standing in the corner all night.
Detroit Pistons: Good/bad news from the preseason finale
Good! Jalen Duren is a better rebounder and defender than expected
Bad! He is going to lead the league in fouls if he plays
When you consider that Jalen Duren is the youngest player in the NBA, I thought his preseason was mostly positive.
He rebounded the ball much better than expected (though he still needs to go after them more aggressively) and showed some signs of elite defense at times.
But he also showed a propensity for fouls, which is not uncommon for young bigs still trying to learn how to navigate the whistles in the NBA.
Duren took it to new heights last night, racking up three fouls in his first four minutes in the game and having to hit the bench.
Some of this was just a rookie getting some tough whistles, but that’s something that is going to happen all season, so he has to adjust. Duren had seven points and 12 rebounds in just 19 minutes, but he also fouled out of the game.
He has a lot to work on, and in an ideal situation, he probably wouldn’t have such a big role right away, but with MBIII out, he’s going to be in the rotation and the Pistons need him to be able to stay on the floor.
If Duren can give them 25 minutes per night, I think we’ll see him flirt with some 20-20 games this season, but it will only happen if he can stay on the floor for that long. Isaiah Stewart got some mentoring from Ben Wallace last season in how to defend without fouling and we may need to bring Big Ben in for a tutorial with Duren.
The final bit of good news is that the preseason is mercifully over.