Strengths and weaknesses of 3 possible Pistons starting lineups
By Tyler Dutton
Cade Cunningham, Jaden Ivey, Ausar Thompson, Tobias Harris, Jalen Duren
It should first be mentioned that Ausar Thompson is going to miss training camp, as he has still not been cleared for full contract drills after missing the end of last season with blood clots, so this assumes it is all precautionary and that he's back in the lineup by the regular season.
In lineup number two, Cade, Ivey, Harris and Duren all get the nod once again. We’ve also already discussed the reasoning for Ivey to be in the starting lineup thanks to his ability to draw fouls, get down the court, and heat up from deep. The difference here is the insertion of Ausar Thompson into the starting five over Simone Fontecchio.
The trade off here is apparent, in that Ausar gives the lineup an insane jump in athleticism (no pun intended) and defense. Ausar, as a 20/21 year old rookie, showed time and time again that he is a great defender, and has the upside of being an elite defender capable of making the All-Defensive team.
What they gain in leaping and defending, they definitely lose in shooting, however. Ausar was known as a struggling shooter when he was drafted, and it might have actually been worse than most people thought. 20-25 percent three point shooting would have been terrible, but somewhat expected. Ausar shot just 18% from three.
He did, however, show some progress as the year went on, shooting 28 percent for a month or so towards the end of the season, but this lineup would then rely heavily on Cade continuing his hot shooting, Ivey figuring his consistency issues out, and Harris being a big-time scorer once again in Detroit.