The Detroit Pistons currently have two of the best shooters in the league in Bojan Bogdanovic and Joe Harris.
Both players are past their respective primes, but will still give you over 40 percent from 3-point range, close to 50 percent from inside the arc and nearly 90 percent from the free-throw line.
But it hasn’t always been this way, as the Detroit Pistons have also had some of the worst shooters in the league over the years. We took a look at the Pistons’ worst shooters from the field, long range and the free-throw line and some of the names might surprise you.
Let’s start with the free-throw line, where the names aren’t at all surprising.
Ben Wallace is the worst free-throw shooter in Detroit Pistons’ history
This was probably the least surprising one, although some people definitely would have guessed Andre Drummond, who wasn’t far behind.
Ben Wallace, arguably the greatest center in team history, only shot 41.8 percent from the free-throw line in his 655 games for Detroit. Wallace never topped 50 percent from the line in his career and shot as low as 30 percent. I honestly think I could do better than that blindfolded using only my left hand.
Drummond wasn’t much better but at least he improved and did shoot over 60 percent twice in his career.
Some big men struggle from the line, that has always been true, but you do have to wonder how two professional athletes could be so bad at one aspect of the game.
Stanley Johnson has the worst field goal percentage in Detroit Pistons’ history
Ok, so this isn’t technically true, but the first six players on the list all played in the 1940’s and 50’s many of them when the team was still in Fort Wayne. This was practically a completely different sport, and scoring 15 points per game would put you in the top-10 in the league.
So I am going to leave out Ralph Johnson (33.1%), Chuck Noble (34.6%), Fred Schaus (34.8%), Frankie Brian (35.5%), Jack Kerris (36%) and Walter Dukes (36.7%) as it is far too difficult to quantify and compare players from this era to the modern one.
But you don’t have to go too deep on the list before you find Stanley Johnson, who was the 8th pick in the draft and shot a whopping 37.2 percent in his 267 games with the Detroit Pistons.
Johnson and Brandon Jennings (38.1%) are the only two players from the modern era to make the top-10, which shows you just how bad their shooting really was. Some fans have fond memories of Jennings but his shooting was one of the primary reasons he landed on my list for most overrated Pistons of all time.
You had to have 1,000 misses to make the list, otherwise Killian Hayes would also be on it just between Johnson and Jennings.
Stanley Johnson may not consider himself a bust, but when your shooting resembles that of guys from the 1940’s, you probably are.
The Detroit Pistons’ all-time worst 3-point shooter is up for debate
The Detroit Pistons’ worst 3-point shooters of all time is a list that will surprise you, as many of them are some of the franchise’s greatest players. But when you take into account the eras, and the fact that players just didn’t shoot as many in the 80’s and 90’s, the title of worst is up for debate.
Vinnie “The Microwave” Johnson is statistically the worst 3-point shooter of those with the requisite attempts. But this was more due to his longevity than being a bad shooter, as he never even attempted one per game on average in a season, not even close. But Johnson hit just 24.2 percent of the ones he did take, so he technically ranks as the worst.
Dennis Rodman (25.3%) is second on the list, but he too barely had any attempts from beyond the arc and most of them were probably desperation heaves at the end of quarters and shot clocks.
Sekou Doumbouya (25.4%) only played 94 games for the Detroit Pistons but cracked plenty of backboards in that time. Grant Hill, who only took one 3-point attempt per game once in his career comes in 4th with a 25.6 percentage from long range.
I would argue that the next two players are actually worse, as they played in the 3-point era and chucked them even though their percentage was similar to someone from another planet who had never seen a basketball before.
Josh Smith (26.2%) and Killian Hayes (27.4%) both averaged over 3.5 attempts per game at times for the Detroit Pistons, so if we are debating the worst 3-point shooters in team history, their names have to be mentioned.