Detroit Pistons fans have a lot to be thankful for this holiday season. The Pistons are coming off one of the worst seasons in NBA history, and are still somewhat in play for a potential Play-In game later in the season.
Cade Cunningham is playing at an All-Star level, Trajan Langdon's offseason signings have been perfectly complementing to the Pistons' core, and JB Bickerstaff seems to have the players having some fun, a welcome change from last season.
Still, not everything is perfect in Detroit. So, with the holiday season upon us, let’s take a look Detroit’s holiday wish list for the rest of the season.
Wish One: Consistent interior presence
There was plenty of talk this past offseason about whether Jalen Duren can be the guy for Detroit in the paint. He obviously struggled in areas last season, but many, myself included, pointed to his injuries and lack of surrounding talent as a reason for the struggles, at least defensively. Could he make the necessary improvements on the interior? So far this year, the answer to that has been "maybe." Duren is still consistently lost on defense, and is not yet the force the Pistons need him to be, but he has shown flashes.
Isaiah Stewart, on the other hand, has seemed to thrive being back in his natural position of backup five. He’s currently leading the league in lowest opponent FG% at the rim with 43.6 percent. Stew is clearly Detroit’s best rim protector, and even if his outside shot isn’t falling, he still has had a good year so far.
Paul Reed has been good as of late, but Detroit desperately needs more of consistent interior presence this holiday season. Adding someone with the abilities such as Myles Turner to pair up with Isaiah Stewart would be exactly what this team needs.
Jalen Duren may yet be that guy, but until he proves it, Detroit will have one eye towards the future at the center position.
Wish Two: Perimeter defense
In addition to Detroit needing an interior presence this holiday season, they could equally use more perimeter defense. So far this year, the defense has been up and down. For a short time, they were among the top-10 in the league defensively. Even though JB Bickerstaff is known to revitalize defenses, most knew this wasn’t going to last, but the drop off in perimeter defense has been substantial.
Night after night, opposing teams absolutely catch fire from the perimeter, and Detroit seemingly cannot do anything about it. They allow the 4th most threes to opposing point guards, and second most points and threes to shooting guards. Just the other night against the lowly Jazz, Utah shot an incredible 81 percent from three in the first quarter putting the game out of reach almost immediately.
On the year, Detroit is dead last in steals per game with just 6.8 per night. The Pistons are also last in the league in opponent shooting percentage from 25-29 ft., allowing 39.8 percent and second to last in opposing 3PT% with 38.4.
Getting Ausar Thompson fully healthy and more minutes for Ron Holland II should help the Pistons on the perimeter but it's still an issue that needs addressed in the new year.