The Detroit Pistons have looked good at times in their first two preseason games, and there are reasons to be excited, but they also have some things they need to get sorted before a brutal start to the regular season.
Tonight’s game against Minnesota will give the Pistons a chance to tighten things up before the games get real, and there are some things it would be great to see.
Is Jalen Duren playing tonight?
The answer to this question is that we don’t know yet, as coach JB Bickerstaff was cagey about Duren when asked this question directly.
It would not only be good for Duren to get a game under his belt before he returns to the microscope of the home crowd, but he needs as much time as possible to get acclimated to his new front court mate John Collins.
There are ways these two can complement each other, particularly if Collins can consistently knock down 3-point shots and occasionally be a cutter while Duren is playing hub in the short roll.
But these things take timing and that takes repetition at game speed, so let’s hope Duren makes his debut tonight and gets started on the process.
The Pistons need to clean up the mistakes
You expect preseason games to be sloppy, but the Pistons have committed 40 turnovers in the first two games, which matters when this was a big issue last season.
You can’t get too riled up about stats in such a small sample size, but it would be nice to see the Pistons take better care of the ball tonight as they start to tighten things up for the regular season.
The Pistons need to get their shooters going
I am not at all worried that Isaiah Joe has struggled shooting the ball so far, hitting just 1-of-13 from long range, as this guy is a proven shooter.
It’s more that he’s looked indecisive in his new offense at times, and tried to do too much, so I’d love to see Joe (and John Collins) get some quality catch-and-shoot looks tonight where they don’t dribble and just let it fly.
The Pistons schedule starts rough
The Pistons play the Celtics, Heat, 76ers, Knicks and Hornets (the middle three teams on the road) in the first five games of the season, so they will get tested against some of the best teams in the Eastern Conference right away.
They not only want to show they are still one of the teams to beat, but don’t want to get off to a slow start in what is sure to be a more competitive conference this season.
The Pistons have two more games to get Jalen Duren back and work out the kinks before things matter, and they will need to make the most of them to hit the ground running in the regular season.
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