It only took a meager addition of shooting to unlock Cade Cunningham for an All-NBA season and now the Detroit Pistons are right back in the same spot.
After spending all of Cunningham’s career bemoaning the lack of spacing around him, the Pistons finally added some shooting in Malik Beasley, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Tobias Harris.
But now the first two are unrestricted free agents and Harris had a mediocre season from long range both in terms of volume and accuracy.
Even if the Pistons bring back Malik Beasley, they are painfully low on shooting, and it should be the priority of the offseason if they expect Cade Cunningham to continue to progress.
The Knicks threw everything at Cade in the playoffs, daring anyone else to beat them, but the Pistons were only able to shoot 32 percent from long range, even with all of the gravity Cunningham was creating.
That will be the strategy for defenses moving forward, which is why the Pistons should be looking to add shooting any way they can get it.
Internal growth will provide a boost in 3-point shooting
Getting Jaden Ivey back will help, as he was shooting over 41 percent from long range before he got hurt. We don’t know if he can do that for a whole season, but he showed real improvement, especially in catch and shoot situations where he shot over 45 percent from 3-point range.
It would almost be impossible for Ausar Thompson and Ron Holland II to be worse from 3-point range, so there should be modest improvement there with a full offseason with Fred Vinson. The Pistons certainly can’t expect these two to suddenly be prolific 3-point shooters, but they should be better.
If the Pistons don’t trade him, Simone Fontecchio should be able to improve upon his 32 percent, as he did seem to be bothered by offseason toe surgery and never got going after shooting 42 percent for the Pistons just the season before.
Isaiah Stewart may decide to start launching again, which would dramatically raise his ceiling as a backup five. We could see an uptick from Marcus Sasser in a bigger role.
Cade Cunningham also needs to help himself with an improvement to closer to 40 percent, as his 3-point shot abandoned him in the playoffs, which could have been the difference in a close series.
But the Pistons can’t count on internal improvement alone.
Offseason acquisitions should focus on shooting
Whether it’s through trades, free agency or the draft, the Pistons need to focus on players who are plus 3-point shooters.
That’s why we could see them involved for a guy like Sam Hauser if the Celtics decide to dump him, why Jake LaRavia is an option as a backup four (he’s not high volume, but could be) and why the Pistons should use their lone draft pick on a guy whose 3-point shot is NBA ready.
The Pistons are in the same spot they were last offseason when it comes to 3-point shooting, and it has to be made a priority if they want to Cade Cunningham to start chasing MVPs.