3 Preseason problems the Pistons have to solve soon

The Detroit Pistons lost to the Golden State Warriors last night to bring their preseason record to 2-2. 

As the record would indicate, there have been both positive and negatives in the preseason, which you would expect with a young team trying to integrate several new players. 

The biggest news is probably the play of Cade Cunningham and Jaden Ivey who have both been efficient offensively and putting in effort on the defensive end. Maybe most importantly, they are taking care of the ball, especially Cade, who has just eight turnovers in four games to 28 assists. 

It’s hard to gauge preseason at times, as different players work on different parts of their game. We also can’t balance a few preseason games against entire careers of evidence (though I am about to do it anyway) but there are some preseason issues that the Pistons need to sort out before the games get real in just over a week. 

#1: The Detroit Pistons, slow starts and big runs 

In three out of the four preseason games, the Pistons have come out slowly and gotten way behind before the first quarter was over, the exception being the second game against the Suns when the Pistons dropped 40 in the first quarter to build a double-digit lead. 

This was a big problem for Detroit last season, as they were just 26th in the league in 1st-quarter margin at –2.4. To be fair, when you only win 14 games, you are likely to have a negative point differential in all quarters, which the Pistons did, but they were worst in the 1st half. 

Detroit’s not always going to get out to a red-hot start, but they have to do something to stop the early onslaught and putting themselves into big holes early. It’s exhausting to try and come back all game, which is essentially what the Pistons have been doing. 

This is something coach Bickerstaff has to figure out, whether it is focusing on defensive intensity in the 1st or going the other way and putting his best offensive team on the floor early. 

The Pistons are also prone to giving up big runs, as they did again last night, allowing, Golden State to go on a 16-2 run that basically sealed the game before the 1st half is over. 

This is another thing coach Bickerstaff has to stop, as Monty Williams was apt to let his team play through mistakes and long runs rather than call quick timeouts. The Pistons are one of those teams that is “in” every game if you just take out one stretch, so they have to figure out how to get out faster and stop that stretch from happening.