The Detroit Pistons were the worst overall shooting team in the 2022-23 season, something they hope is about to change.
They currently have three of the best long-range shooters in the league on the roster in Bojan Bogdanovic, Alec Burks and Joe Harris, and in the case of Harris, one of the best in the history of the league.
Harris is currently 4th in 3-point percentage all time and has made more than any of the guys ahead of him, so he has an argument as the NBA’s best shooter with a 43.7 career percentage. But when you see that Stephen Curry has hit more than three times as many in his career and still made 42.8 percent of them, it’s pretty obvious who the all-time greatest shooter really is.
But what about Detroit Pistons’ history? The Pistons have had some great shooters over the years, but when you look just at 3-point shooting, most of them were contemporary players in the modern era, showing just how much the game has changed.
If we were just talking about all-time makes from behind the arc, then there would be familar names like Joe Dumars, Chauncey Billups, Lindsey Hunter, Rasheed Wallace and Tayshaun Prince. Remarkably, Saddiq Bey is actually 7th all-time in makes, but none of these players had an average of over 40 percent.
Dumars was closest with a career mark of over 38.7, but it still wasn’t enough to make the list. For the purposes of this, I am only choosing players that had a significant role during their time with the team or had a run that just can’t be ignored, so my apologies to Tony Snell and Rodney McGruder.
The percentages are the player’s number with the Detroit Pistons and not for their career.
Top 8 long-range sharpshooters in Detroit Pistons’ history
#8: Wayne Ellington- 40%
Ellington didn’t play a ton of games with the Detroit Pistons over parts of two seasons, but he started in most of them and was a high-volume 3-point shooter who could rip the nets. At his best, he shot 42.2 percent on over six attempts per game as a 33-year-old on a tanking team.
Ellington briefly led the league that season and ended up in the top 20 for 3-point percentage. It was fleeting, but Ellington was a lights out shooter for the Detroit Pistons.
Top 8 long-range sharpshooters in Detroit Pistons’ history
#7: Luke Kennard- 40.2%
If this list were being made of current players, then Kennard might be atop it, as he has led the league two seasons in a row, including last year when he shot nearly 50 percent from long range.
But he spent his first three years in the league in Detroit, where he had a bigger role and the “worst” shooting years of his career, just cracking the 40 percent mark once in his rookie season.
Kennard will mostly be remembered as the guy the Pistons took instead of Donovan Mitchell, but he’s rounded into arguably the league’s best pure shooter, though he still can’t do anything else.
If Kennard had been drafted in the second round, he would have been a more beloved member of the Pistons, but his draft position (and the fact that Mitchell has turned into a superstar) will always have him remembered as one of the most overrated Pistons over all time.
Kennard is in a great situation in Memphis, where he can be what he always should have been, a role player who comes off the bench and hits 3-point shots.
Top 8 long-range sharpshooters in Detroit Pistons’ history
#6: Allan Houston- 41%
If you look at some of the biggest “what ifs” in Detroit Pistons’ history, one of them has to be “what if Allan Houston had played longer with Grant Hill?”
Houston played his first three seasons with the Pistons and shot an outstanding 41 percent overall, including his third season when he shot 42.7 percent on 5.5 attempts per game. When you consider that this was in the 90’s well before the 3-point era really got started, it shows just how great a shooter Houston was.
But he eventually wanted more money than the Pistons were willing to give him and simply walked in free agency after his third season, which seems wild in retrospect, as Detroit let a young player fresh off a season where he scored nearly 20 per game on outstanding shooting splits walk for nothing.
The Pistons won 54 games the next season anyway, but you have to wonder if they would have had more playoff success with Allan Houston spreading the floor around Grant Hill.
Now Houston will mostly be remembered for having the contract that broke the league and forced the Amnesty Clause, aka The Allan Houston Rule.
Top 8 long-range sharpshooters in Detroit Pistons’ history
#5: Bojan Bogdanovic- 41.1%
Bojan Bogdanovic has only played one season for the Detroit Pistons, but he put together one of the best shooting performances in team history, narrowly missing the 50/40/90 club.
With Cade Cunningham returning next season and more shooters around him, Bogdanovic could have a chance to climb this list, as he is going to get more open shots and won’t be relied upon heavily to create his own as he was last season.
Bogdanovic had to play in isolation way more than the Pistons would have liked with Cunningham injured, but with him back and improved point guard play from Jaden Ivey and Monte Morris, Bogs should be able to slide into a smaller role which should include a lot of catch-and-shoot 3-point shots.
And that’s good news for the Pistons, as Bogs hit 45.5 percent of his catch-and-shoot 3-pointers last season, so we could see him closer to that number overall.
He has a chance to be near the top of this list if he plays another full season with Detroit.
Top 8 long-range sharpshooters in Detroit Pistons’ history
#4: Reggie Bullock- 41.2%
Reggie Bullock narrowly beat out Bojan Bogdanovic for the 4th spot on the list.
He played three seasons with the Pistons and in the final one he started 52 games and shot an outstanding 44.5 percent on 4.5 attempts per game, which is still the best shooting season of his career.
Bullock is the prototypical 3-and-D player on the wing but has really fallen off the map as a shooter since he left Detroit, as he has only topped 40 percent once since then.
Bullock did have a nice season for Dallas last year, but will now take his shooting talents to the San Antonio Spurs, where he is likely to be more of a role player off the bench.
Top 8 long-range sharpshooters in Detroit Pistons’ history
#3: Alec Burks- 41.4%
Like Bogdanovic, Alec Burks has only played one season for the Detroit Pistons, but given his history, I feel comfortable putting him on this list.
Pistons fans should be somewhat excited that two of the best sharpshooters in team history are currently on the roster, even though both are in the latter stages of their careers and could be traded before the season is over.
Burks has quietly rounded into one of the best bench shooters in the league, as he has hit over 40 percent of his 3-point shots in three straight seasons, including last year when he narrowly missed his career best.
Burks briefly led the league in shooting last season and started to get some rumblings of being in the best 6th man conversation, but those don’t last long when your team only wins 17 games.
It may seem like a cop-out to put guys like Burks and Bogdanovic on this list ahead of Joe Dumars, who played his entire career with Detroit and had over 900 made 3-point shots, but Dumars really didn’t start shooting them until later in his career and was always known more for being a mid-range assassin than a 3-point shooter.
Top 8 long-range sharpshooters in Detroit Pistons’ history
#2: Jose Calderon- 41.9%
This is another dubious addition, as Calderon only played parts of two seasons with Detroit, though he did start every game in his first stint with the team.
It was that outstanding run that landed him on this list, as Calderon shot 52 percent from long range for the Detroit Pistons in his first run with the team when he started all 28 games that he played.
Is that enough to put him on this list? Maybe not, especially considering he couldn’t hit anything when he returned to Detroit towards the end of his career.
There are certainly much better shooters and players we could have put here, but it made me chuckle to see him this high in the rankings and regardless of his overall skill or contributions to Detroit, he had a run (albeit short) of shooting that really was special.
Top 8 long-range sharpshooters in Detroit Pistons’ history
#1: Jon Barry- 44.1%
Jon Barry is the son of legend Rick Barry and also has three brothers who played the game, so this was a family of sharpshooters.
Barry only played two seasons for the Detroit Pistons, but he shot the lights out in that time, hitting an incredible 44.1 percent overall including a season when he knocked down just under 47 percent for a Pistons’ team that won 50 games.
Barry was a role player who came off the bench for most of the 162 games he played for Detroit over two seasons in the early 2000’s.
He wasn’t prolific by modern standards of 3-point shooting, but he was 2nd overall in the league in the 2001-2 season and is probably a guy who would have had an even better career had he played in the 3-point era.