The Detroit Pistons will feature a starting lineup with two non-shooters, something you don’t see as often in the present-day NBA.
Some have questioned whether Cade Cunningham, Jaden Ivey, Ausar Thompson, Tobias Harris and Jalen Duren can generate enough space to be effective in the half court given that two of the players don’t look to shoot jumpers at all. But the Pistons can overcome this by building on something they already do well, which is run.
The Pistons were second in the NBA in fast-break points per game last season, just behind the Denver Nuggets, who use Nikola Jokic, one of the best passers in the game, to set up long outlet passes for easy buckets, something the Pistons can emulate with Cade Cunningham.
Detroit was already very good at generating points off their defense and will need to continue, as they’ve lost over 600 made 3-pointers from last year’s team, depending on what happens with Malik Beasley.
And there are reasons to believe that the Pistons will be even better at early offense next season.
The Detroit Pistons are one of the fastest teams in the NBA
Detroit did most of their damage on the fast break last season without Jaden Ivey, one of the league’s fastest players and a guy who is a huge weapon in the open court.
We’ve yet to see much of this starting unit together, as they only played a few minutes as a group last season, so we haven’t seen the team armed with both Ausar Thompson and Jaden Ivey getting out on the break. Few players go end to end faster than these two, which should open up a lot of fast break opportunities.
That’s especially true when you have guards and wings who rebound, and the Pistons have those in Cade Cunningham, Thompson and even Ivey, who averaged 4.1 rebounds per game last season and can be a one-man fast break when he grabs a board.
Jalen Duren is also very athletic and fast for a center, so the Pistons should be looking to push the pace every chance they get no matter who grabs the defensive rebound. Duren has shown he can bring the ball up (though that’s not my favorite option) but has to get better at those early, long outlet passes that lead to layups.
The Pistons have the weapons to improve in an area where they were already very good last season, which should help offset some of their lack of 3-point shooting in the starting five.