The Pistons offense has clearly been hurt by injuries so far, but Isaiah Joe’s absence is still being vastly underrated. Joe was one of the biggest offseason pickups for Detroit and meant to help improve the Pistons’ shooting this season, especially in bench units.
Joe was a lethal and fearless 3-point shooter for the Thunder last season. He got up 6 threes per game in just 21 minutes of action and nailed 42% of them. That’s the type of spacing that can fix issues of offensive stagnation, but the Pistons haven’t seen it in full force yet.
Isaiah Joe can have a big impact when healthy
Joe has practically only played 2 games for the Pistons this season, since he was injured after just 4 minutes of playing time in the third game. During those first two games, he got up 13 total three-point attempts in a combined 38 minutes of action.
That attempt rate is even higher than his time in OKC, but the threes weren’t falling for Joe yet. He only hit 3 of those 13 attempts. Joe is a proven shooter in the NBA, and the Pistons had faith that his percentage would return to normal once he got into a rhythm.
Unfortunately, his injury derailed any momentum for both him and the team. Without Joe as an additional deadly shooter, the Pistons have relied on Duncan Robinson for most of their dedicated shooting and thrust him into a bigger role than intended. The coinciding loss of Jalen Duren, usually the team’s second option, doesn’t help matters either.
Joe will give the Pistons an option to have more shooters on the floor at once when he comes back healthy. He can share the floor with Robinson to add more spacing, especially in lineups without Cade Cunningham as a creator. And Joe can also hopefully offset some nights where Robinson’s shot simply isn’t falling.
The Pistons need to get comfortable with Joe this season
Even though the Pistons continue to rack up regular season wins without Joe, they need to incorporate him as a major part of the offense for the playoffs. Last season showed how much Detroit’s lack of spacing can be a detriment in the postseason, even with Robinson in constant motion.
Joe’s additional shooting should go a long way towards fixing that problem, but only if the Pistons are comfortable playing him in crunchtime. In Oklahoma City, Joe often found his minutes slashed in the playoffs thanks to the Thunder’s depth and his own lack of versatility compared to some of his teammates.
But the Pistons need to work out those issues earlier because they don’t have the same luxury of depth as the Thunder once did. For that reason, they can only hope that Joe will return to full health sooner rather than later.
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