The Detroit Pistons were expected to be an improved team under the guidance of new president and head coach Stan Van Gundy this season. So it’s fair that in the midst of a 13-game losing streak, which includes a loss to the lowly Philadelphia 76ers, questions are raised about what has gone wrong with this team.
Detroit has two excellent big men in Greg Monroe and Andre Drummond, and they acquired Brandon Jennings to build around them along with Josh Smith, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, and D.J. Augustin. Van Gundy is regarded as an excellent basketball mind that knows how to build a quality roster and coach his teams up, but it hasn’t translated to success this year in the Motor City.
Poor guard play, too much inconsistency among the big men, and a lack of depth appear to be the biggest problems with the Pistons. The unfortunate news is that there doesn’t appear to be an immediate fix.
Lack Of Talented Guards
The single biggest issue hurting Detroit is the lack of talented guards this team has. There’s Jennings but beyond that, there’s very little else in the backcourt. Jennings has averaged 13.5 points and 6.2 assists per game, and while those aren’t terrible numbers, they aren’t good enough when you consider the gap between him and the next best options. The other issue is that Jennings is a volume shooter who needs a bunch of shots to get to his average.
Beyond him, Caldwell-Pope is still a work in progress in his second year and Augustin is nothing more than a decent veteran stopgap until they find a better option. Not a single player on the Pistons roster has averaged more than 1.5 three-point shots per game and the lack of quality outside shooting has allowed teams to cheat inside and attack Detroit’s big men with more support down low.
It’s interesting because Van Gundy spent the offseason trying to improve this team’s three-point shooting and they’ve only marginally improved. They were 29th last season but are up to 20th this year. That number needs to improve much more, though.
Big Men Not Delivering
The lack of quality play on the perimeter has put even more pressure on the Pistons big men and neither Drummond nor Monroe has been nearly consistent enough. Monroe has averaged a team-high 14.7 points while Drummond has averaged 11.3 points and a team-high 11.8 rebounds but when you consider the looks they have gotten and how much of an emphasis they have in the offense, they simply have to do more. That’s a lot easier said than done but Van Gundy has to figure out how to get more out of them or ultimately trade one of them for more help elsewhere.
There were reports that Monroe was very close to being moved earlier in the year. Though those talks have died down, the best move might be to feature Drummond and move Monroe in order to address more pressing issues elsewhere on the roster.
Serious Lack Of Depth
The starters have been central to Detroit’s problems this year but a lack of depth has also been a major issue for this team. Augustin and Caldwell-Pope would be good off the bench together but Caldwell-Pope has started 22 games and Augustin has been the only decent threat the Pistons have had off the bench. Kyle Singler, Luigi Datome, and Caron Butler won’t scare many teams and until they do something to address their lack of depth, the Pistons will be in major trouble.
It hasn’t been one particular thing on its own that has hurt Detroit this year but a multitude of things, and while he doesn’t deserve all of the blame it will be on Van Gundy to work on these issues and turn things around as both the president and head coach as things couldn’t get much worse than they are now.
