The Detroit Pistons have remained steadfast in their claim that they won’t make a drastic move at the trade deadline, but an injury to Duncan Robinson may change that quickly.
Robinson had to leave during the 3rd quarter of last night’s overtime debacle with what appeared to be a knee injury.
We’ve talked about the importance of Robinson in the offense, which is why I didn’t think we’d see Jaden Ivey back in his starting role, at least not right away.
If Robinson has to miss any significant amount of time, Ivey’s timeline could be pushed up, though he only played 14 minutes last night, while Daniss Jenkins played 20, so we may see Jenkins in that starter’s spot just to retain some continuity, since it’s something he’s done this season while Ivey has exclusively come off the bench.
Robinson’s replacement in the starting five is a short-term problem that the Pistons will deal with, but if he’s going to be out for a while, it may force Trajan Langdon to take action sooner than expected.
Detroit Pistons: Starting lineup and trading for a shooter
If Robinson had managed to make it through the season healthy, I’m not sure he would have lost his starting position, as he’s been shooting the lights out (not last night) and he’s the only real 3-point threat teams care about.
But one of Jenkins or Ivey will take his place and hopefully provide some of the shooting they’ll be missing without Robinson.
For the long term, it’s not sustainable to only have one elite 3-point shooter in the modern NBA, especially when he’s on the wrong side of 30 and isn’t a good defender. Teams are going to target Robinson in the playoffs, so even if he were healthy, the Pistons need an injection of shooting from somewhere.
This is the weakness I expected the Pistons to attempt to address at the trade deadline, but Robinson’s injury may speed up that timeline as well, as they are struggling mightily from long range.
Detroit hit just 18 percent of their 3-point shots last night with Robinson contributing a goose-egg himself, missing all five of his attempts.
We’ve seen time and time again that teams are daring the Pistons to shoot, playing zone against them and packing the lane to make it more difficult for Cade Cunningham and Jalen Duren to operate.
In the playoffs, when teams can hyperfocus and gameplan more effectively, the Pistons’ offense is going to be easy to prepare for unless they get another player or two to spread the floor.
The question is who that player is, as there aren’t many reported trade targets who happen to be elite shooters.
The Pistons have to hope Robinson’s injury is minor, but they are playing with fire only having one real shooter on the roster, and it’s a need they may address sooner rather than later.