The Detroit Pistons clearly prioritized 3-point shooting above all else this offseason, and did land some high-percentage shooters, but they will also have to increase their volume for it to matter.
The Pistons weren’t a good 3-point shooting team last season, finishing 17th in the league in 3-point percentage. They’ve addressed that issue by adding four players who shoot over 40 percent from long range in John Collins, Isaiah Joe, Taurean Prince and Gary Harris.
They also re-signed Kevin Huerter, hoping he can regain his form as an above-average 3-point shooter.
These additions, along with internal improvement, should mean the Pistons will shoot a higher percentage from long range next season, but the number they really need to increase is their attempts.
The Pistons have to take more 3-point shots next season
The Pistons were 29th in 3-point attempts per game last season and 29th in made 3’s per game but made up for it by getting a ton of points in the paint and by getting to the free-throw line.
Detroit also feasted off their defense, racking up fast break points, but all of these things are more difficult in the playoffs. The Pistons found out the hard way that bully ball alone wasn't enough in the postseason.
Orlando and Cleveland just packed the paint and dared the Pistons to shoot. Detroit didn’t take or make enough 3-point shots to make that strategy hurt.
John Collins is a better 3-point shooter than Tobias Harris, especially from the corners, so he’ll need to take more of those for the Pistons, as he actually took fewer attempts per game than Harris last season.
The biggest uptick should be from Isaiah Joe, as the Pistons didn’t have a high-volume 3-point shooter coming off the bench last season. He has averaged six or more attempts over the last two seasons but may get a few more in increased minutes for Detroit.
Even with those additions, the Pistons will be struggling to get near even the Thunder and Spurs, who were middle of the pack for attempts but still took seven more per game than Detroit.
3-point attempts are not all about the results
The Pistons were so easy to defend in the playoffs because the threat of the 3-point shot really wasn’t there. Teams knew Duncan Robinson wasn’t going to get enough attempts for it to really matter and weren’t scared of anyone else.
Higher 3-point volume means there are more players teams have to defend, which should equal more space and an offense that is more difficult to gameplan against.
Teams weren’t even worried about Detroit shooting 3-point shots last season, and that only changes when they start knocking them down at a higher rate.
Accuracy obviously matters, but so does volume, as defenses have to see the 3-point shot as a real threat before they will respond.
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