The Detroit Pistons were thoroughly blown out again last night, losing to the 76ers 123-111 after allowing 71 points in the first half.
We know the excuses at this point: The Detroit Pistons are young. They are shorthanded (even more than usual last night with Jalen Duren out) and they are a rebuilding team.
All of these things may be true, but there is really no adequate excuse for how bad the Pistons’ defense has been this season. They are going to have the worst defensive rating in team history and are currently allowing 119 points per game, 2nd worst in the league only to the San Antonio Spurs who held Detroit to 109 points in their own recent blowout over the Pistons.
Detroit has allowed 121 points per game over the last three, while the Spurs have held opponents to 115, so it won’t be long before the Pistons have NBA’s worst defense to go along with its second-worst record overall.
The Pistons are actually scoring seven more points per game than last season, but are allowing seven more points as well, so it’s been a wash. One thing is clear, something has to be done about this defense before the Pistons will be a competitive team, this is not Detroit basketball and something has to change.
That change may be coming sooner rather than later and it needs to be radical, as this isn’t just one or two guys, it’s a team problem from the top down. Here are three suggestions.
Detroit Pistons: Fire Dwane Casey
Dwane Casey said a team goal for this season was to have a top-10 defense, and well, that hasn’t happened. I don’t put this all on him, as this roster doesn’t have many good individual defenders, is lacking good role players off the bench, and yes, they are very young.
I don’t like to put blame on the coach when players aren’t giving effort or improving, as these aren’t children. The NBA is not an instructional league, so I put most of the blame on the players themselves.
But sometimes a new voice in the huddle can help, and right now, the Pistons may need it, as nothing Casey is doing is making any difference. I feel bad for Casey, as he wasn’t given the roster to be competitive on the defensive end, but someone has to be held accountable for this and it probably starts with the head coach.
I would be surprised if the Pistons actually did fire Casey during the season, but it would be one way to get this team’s attention and possibly light a fire under them.
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.
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.
Detroit Pistons: A roster overhaul
This certainly does not fall entirely on Dwane Casey, nor on Saddiq Bey and Bojan Bogdanovic, as the Detroit Pistons lack defenders up and down the roster.
They’ve gotten next to nothing from their role players, and there are at least nine guys on the current roster who need to go before next season. I’ve heard a lot of people talk about Detroit’s bench leading the league in scoring, but who cares? They have the 3rd-worst net rating so are a negative overall, even if they are scoring.
This offseason will be the real test for Troy Weaver, who has yet to build a coherent team and has instead collected what I call “transaction” players where he was trying to win the deal rather than get a guy who actually fit on the team.
The team has no dawgs coming off the bench, no glue guys, no players who want to take on the tough defensive assignment and don’t care about their stats.
Instead, Weaver has taken chances on first round busts that have not panned out, signed veterans like Cory Joseph and Rodney McGruder who are basically just stealing roster spots, and didn’t add a single good defender in the offseason.
I am not a GM, but it was obvious this was a weakness from the beginning, so this roster doesn’t just need one or two players, it needs an overhaul around the young core. They need some adults who can teach these kids how to defend and play hard every night, how to be professionals.
Take a look around the league: The best teams don’t have retreads and reclamation projects coming off their bench, they have guys who know their role and play it well, guys who complement the starters and can pick them up on an off night.
Troy Weaver has a lot of work before the trade deadline and in the offseason, as this team is far away from being competitive and needs some radical changes from the coach down.