You've heard it for pretty much the entire season — the Detroit Pistons need more three-point shooting. It doesn't help that Tim Hardaway Jr., who left in free agency last summer, is putting together a solid season with the Nuggets.
Denver's prized offseason addition was supposed to be Cam Johnson, who has underwhelmed in the games he's played. It's gotten to the point where David Adelman has chosen to close with THJ over Cam, which is what happened on Monday in Oklahoma City. Zach Lowe took note of that and mentioned it on his podcast:
"We had Cam Johnson — another no-show game where he's benched down the stretch in favor of a red hot Tim Hardaway Jr. That is a continued problem."
Hardaway finished with 28 points on 8-of-12 shooting from three against the Thunder in 33 minutes. He helped keep them in the game, while Johnson had only six points in 23 minutes. I'm not here to talk about the latter's woes this season, but about how the former could've helped the Pistons with theirs.
Former Pistons guard Tim Hardaway Jr. is having a career year
In Detroit last season, Hardaway averaged 11 points per game on 36.8% shooting from deep on 5.9 attempts per game. This season, he's averaging 14 points on a career-high 40.9% shooting from three on 6.9 attempts per contest.
You're probably thinking that if the Pistons had re-signed THJ, he wouldn't be having as good a year as he is in Denver, and you'd be right about that. Hardaway is experiencing one of the many pluses of sharing the floor with Nikola Jokić, who can find you open from a mile away. And as a team, the Nuggets have the league's top offensive rating. They're a well-oiled machine on that end.
Still, given that Detroit is third-to-last in the league with 10.9 made threes per game, fourth-to-last in three-point attempts (31.4), and 21st in three-point percentage (34.7%), it would be nice to have Hardaway around, especially with how the Malik Beasley situation has played out.
Maybe THJ still would've opted to go to Denver even if Detroit made a bigger push to re-sign him, as playing alongside Jokić is too good an opportunity to pass up.
The Pistons have been the top team in the East for the majority of the season, so it's not like they've been on some downward spiral due to their lack of outside shooting. They've fared well, all things considered, but it could be a different story when the playoffs roll around, and opposing defenses throw everything at Cade Cunningham.
At the end of last season, you might've felt fine with letting THJ walk due to his inconsistencies, but that sentiment should've changed at the beginning of last season. And if it didn't, it certainly has since then.