The Pistons' shocking move to trade away Jaden Ivey did not pay off in their first game without him. Thie trade, which returned Kevin Huerter for Detroit, was meant to add more 3-point shooting for the Pistons. However, in their first game since, the Pistons shot just 9-of-33 from deep while Huerter himself went 0-of-2 in his scant playing time.
The Pistons still don't have enough shooting
For all of Ivey's weaknesses this season, he was actually one of the Pistons' most reliable 3-point shooters before being traded. Ivey was shooting 37% from three and taking a high volume considering his low minutes. In his Bulls debut, Ivey continued the trend by hitting 3 out of 5 attempts from deep.
Meanwhile, the Pistons' most glaring weakness came back to bite them in a loss to the lowly Wizards. It was one of Detroit's worst losses this season and once again emphasized the need for better shooting across the roster. The Pistons chose not to make any other trades before the deadline passed, so their current shooting-impaired roster will be the one they take into the postseason.
Huerter has a reputation as a great shooter built from his earlier days in Atlanta and Sacramento. However, his shooting has regressed this season and he only shot 31% from deep for Chicago before the trade. There's still hope that his improvements in other areas can pay dividends for the Pistons, but his shooting is the biggest selling point.
Even if Huerter does regain his shooting touch, there's still a distinct lack of reliable shooting across the Pistons' lineups. Currently, the only reliable shooters on the team are Duncan Robinson and Marcus Sasser (who only plays 10 minutes per game). Even if you add Huerter to that bunch, the Pistons have many non-shooters who crowd the floor.
Deploying so many players without strong shooting makes life harder for Cade Cunningham. Defenses can choose to ignore his non-shooting teammates and throw more defenders at him instead. Rather than addressing this need with multiple moves and new shooters, the Pistons' front office relied on Huerter alone to fix the issue.
It would have been difficult enough for any single shooter to solve such a fundamental roster construction issue, let alone one having a down year. Clearly, Huerter alone will not be able to lift the Pistons' shooting so much that opposing defenses must play them differently. It's clear that the Pistons will likely need to add more shooting if they want to address their biggest flaw.
Hopefully Kevin Huerter can revive his sharpshooting to his 2023 (Kings "Light the Beam" team) levels on the Pistons. But even with that addition, the Pistons still have an obvious flaw that opponents will target in the playoffs.