Area where the Detroit Pistons should make a huge leap

The Detroit Pistons hope to finally compete next season after tanking for four straight years.

But to make the type of leap fans hope and expect, they will have to improve in all aspects of the game, as the Pistons were near the bottom of the league in pretty much every offensive and defensive category.

They were the league’s 28th-ranked defense and had the lowest overall field goal percentage of any team in the NBA, which is why they only racked up 17 wins.

But when you dig a little deeper into their shooting numbers, you see that the Detroit Pistons actually showed some promise from the 3-point line, an area where they should see vast improvement next season.

The Detroit Pistons can be a top 3-point shooting team next season

While the shooting overall was abysmal, the Pistons were 21st in 3-point percentage last season and 20th in 3-pointers made per game, mostly on the strength of Bojan Bogdanovic and Alec Burks.

These rankings aren’t great, but they do show promise, especially when you look a little closer.

The Detroit Pistons got a ton of wide-open 3-point shots last season and just didn’t make enough of them. They were 11th in the NBA in wide-open 3-point attempts, but just 19th in percentage, as they knocked down just 38 percent of them, well below the top of the league.

But next season they will have better shooters coming off the bench to go along with Bogdanovivc and Burks. The additions of Joe Harris and Monte Morris will give the Pistons two more veteran shooters than they had last season, and in the case of Harris, we are talking about one of the best 3-point shooters in the history of the NBA.

The Nets were 2nd in the league in wide-open 3-point percentage last season, partly because of Harris, who shot an outstanding 48.3 percent on wide-open 3-point shots. Both he and Morris should knock down a higher percentage of those shots than their counterparts from last season.

Marcus Sasser, who is also an above-average shooter from long range, could take some reps from Killian Hayes, who was abysmal. But either way, most of Hayes’ shots from last season will be going to guys who aren’t the worst shooter in the NBA, a huge net gain.

Add in a full season of a healthy Isaiah Livers, and improvements from Cade Cunningham, Jaden Ivey and Isaiah Stewart and you could have one of the league’s best shooting teams from 3-point range.

Detroit already had two of the league’s best 3-point shooters on the roster last season and added two more, which should help them convert a higher percentage and jump into the top 10 in the league in 3-point makes next season.