The Detroit Pistons suffered a bad defeat last night, but the sky is not falling.
The Pistons are still in first place, still have enviable team chemistry, and are still mostly playing well, so there is no reason to panic.
Ausar Thompson had a bogus ejection, Duncan Robinson had to leave with an injury, the Pistons put up their worst 3-point numbers of the season and there was some questionable refereeing, so it took a string of bad luck for Detroit to lose by two points on the road in overtime.
It’s not time to hit the panic button, and I’m certain the Pistons will bounce back and come out with renewed anger at home against the Hornets.
But last night’s loss did point to some problems the Pistons will eventually need to address, and which could make this trade deadline a wild one.
The Pistons need an upgrade at the two spot
Detroit has entirely too much riding on the health of Duncan Robinson, who has been their only consistent high-volume 3-point shooter this season. That’s not a great place to be, as he is 31 years old and suffered another injury last night.
Both Daniss Jenkins and Jaden Ivey have been good at times, but not consistently, and not in ways that make you comfortable with them as the long-term solutions, especially when Ivey is set to be a restricted free agent next offseason.
They still don’t really know what they have in Ivey, nor what his ultimate role on this team is, and when you factor in his contract status, he’s looking like the only young player who could possibly be traded.
Robinson would be much better served as a bench player, and it would be great for Ivey to seize this opportunity with him out to assert himself as the starter again, then the problem is solved, but if that doesn’t happen, this is a position the Pistons could look to upgrade one way or another.
The Pistons need a forward who can shoot
Tobias Harris has been important for the Pistons, so I’m not about to throw him under the bus for one bad game, but the Pistons could use a scoring upgrade at the forward spot.
That might be as simple as moving Stewart into the starting lineup and giving him more of a green light from 3-point range, but that takes away from his defensive presence and weakens the bench.
With Ausar Thompson and Ron Holland still trying to figure out their offensive games, the Pistons don’t have much shooting at the forward position, and it shows in the half-court spacing.
The Pistons don’t have to overreact to one bad loss, but these are weaknesses that will hurt them in the playoffs. It won’t necessarily take a splashy move to upgrade these spots, but they are likely the ones Trajan Langdon will be exploring as the trade deadline approaches.