Detroit Pistons: 3 radical changes to improve the defense
Detroit Pistons: Trade Bojan Bogdanovic and Saddiq Bey
A big part of the problem with the defense is that the Pistons have nothing on the wing. They don’t really have a starting caliber small forward, as both Bogdanovic and Bey are power forwards who really can’t defend quicker wings.
Trading out Jerami Grant for Bogdanovic may have helped the offense overall, but Grant was a key loss on defense and the Pistons did nothing to replace him.
Currently, Bogdanovic has the worst defensive rating in the NBA among forwards and Saddiq Bey is 3rd. The NBA is filled with dominant wing players, so not having a stopper on the wing is one thing, but having two of the league’s worst defenders there is another.
Possible Bucks trade for Bojan Bogdanovic. light. Related Story
The Pistons are balking at trading either of them right now, which is probably just posturing, but at least one of them has to go if this team’s defense is ever going to improve.
The NBA is in the middle of an offensive explosion this season, so most teams are scoring a lot of points. The difference between the good teams and the bad is the ability to get a stop and right now the Pistons aren’t stopping anyone.
Some of this will change with internal improvement, but they also need some real wing defenders and the best way to get one may be to trade one or both of their current starting forwards.