Detroit Pistons media day is today and I am sure we'll hear plenty of questions and observations about the additional shooting the Pistons added this offseason.
Detroit should have improved spacing with the additions of John Collins, Isaiah Joe and Taurean Prince, but none of these players are creators or going to take any pressure off Cade Cunningham when it comes to ball handling and initiating the offense.
The Pistons certainly had more than one need heading into the summer, but really only addressed the shooting, hoping that additional space will have a ripple effect on other areas. The Pistons better hope it does, as they gave up important players and put all of their faith in space.
The ripple effect of additional space for the Pistons
The Pistons were a turnover prone team last season and that problem got worse in the playoffs when teams just packed the paint and cut off Detroit's bread and butter.
We saw Cade Cunningham dribble into traffic far too often, and part of that was that they didn't have anyone else teams had to pay attention to, especially beyond the arc. The Pistons had just Duncan Robinson as an elite shooter and were over 10 points better offensively when he was on the floor.
That gives hope that even more shooting will give the Pistons the offensive boost they need. People act as if they were terrible last season, when the truth is that they had a top-10 offense even though they were one of the worst 3-point shooting teams in the NBA.
Hopefully, the additional space created by Collins and Joe will make it easier for Cunningham and others to navigate without running into a wall of defenders who can sag off with impunity.
I am especially excited to see what Ausar Thompson can do when defenders continue to back off of him, as his ability to create will be key to the Pistons success next season.
Detroit didn't add ball handlers or a second scoring option, so they are really counting on shooting and the additional space it provides to be the catalyst of offensive improvement.
This is a team that won 60 games last season, so they didn't need a dramatic overhaul, but if these smaller moves don't work out as expected, there will be questions and possibly even regrets, as players like Tobias Harris and Isaiah Stewart were important to the team's success.
The Pistons chased the space, but if it doesn't have the ripple effect they hope for, there will still be additional moves to make and possible regrets about the ones they already made.
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