Detroit Pistons: Examining Possible Solutions For The Bench
By David Hughes
Through four games, the Detroit Pistons are off to a solid 3-1 start. Things have been mostly positive, as the team won its first three, all against quality opponents, and Andre Drummond appears to have potentially taken the next to step to being mentioned with not only the best centers in basketball, but the best players in the entire NBA.
All of that is great, but of course, this isn’t NBA 2K and Stan Van Gundy can’t turn off fatigue in the game settings before tip so that Drummond and the rest of the starters can play the entire game. Enter the Pistons’ bench, which is far and away the team’s biggest issue at this early point in the season.
Newly acquired Steve Blake has shown flashes, but he’s generally struggled to create as the second unit’s point guard and is an almost hard-to-believe 11.8 percent from the field through four games.
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Stanley Johnson‘s extremely productive Summer League and preseason performances haven’t quite carried over yet, as he’s currently shooting just 27.3 percent from the field and has a Player Efficiency Rating of just 7.94.
The injury to Jodie Meeks gave newcomer Reggie Bullock a larger role, but Bullock has struggled to find his footing and is still searching for his first points in 25 minutes played, which isn’t ideal.
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Some of this can reasonably attributed to a lack of cohesion, as the second unit features just one player who’s a returnee from last year, Anthony Tolliver. The group should naturally improve a bit as the season progresses just due to increased familiarity.
There are inherent problems that may continue to persist, though, such as the fact that the group is lacking a player who can create their own offense. The belief heading into the season was that Stanley Johnson would be able to provide the major punch off the bench, but he simply hasn’t looked comfortable yet on the offensive end.
He’s struggled finishing down low, having his shot blocked consistently, and is shooting just 25 percent from distance.
Help is on the way in the form of Brandon Jennings around Christmas time, but that’s almost two months away and it’s an unknown as to how long it will take him to be even close to his former self as he’s coming off a ruptured left Achilles tendon.
In the meantime, what can the Pistons do to try and make sure their second unit doesn’t completely offset everything the first unit does?
Van Gundy, who’s not typically one to wait around and let a problem marinate before it’s too much to bounce back from, did speculate on what the team could possibly do, per Keith Langlois of Pistons.com.
“We’re going to have to rethink the whole thing,” he said. “It’s only been four games – and we’ve had some guys have some decent individual games – but that unit is not playing well. It’s really been our starters carrying us. We’re going to have to find a better rotation. We’ve either got to find something that will help them offensively or we’ve got to get a different rotation.”
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Newcomers Ersan Ilyasova and Marcus Morris have both played well, and an option could be to have either of them play more often with the second unit, rather than the wholesale changes that Van Gundy has opted to mostly go with through the first four games.
Ilyasova’s ability to stretch the floor has been a big reason for the success of the first unit, and the threat of him on the outside could potentially open up things for the second unit. Marcus Morris is off to a blazing start offensively, averaging 17.3 points per game, and has been the Pistons’ go-to-guy at times through the first four games.
Playing him a bit more with the second unit would give the team a guy that they can throw it into during dry spells while Drummond and Reggie Jackson aren’t in the game. Morris is sometimes inefficient, but has the ability to post up as well as step out and knock down jumpers in the face of defenders.
The good news for the Pistons and their fans is that it probably won’t get much worse than Tuesday night’s game vs. the Pacers. The second group looked completely lost and was outscored 43-2 by the Pacers’ bench, the lone two coming on a garbage-time layup from Spencer Dinwiddie.
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It will get better as the team becomes more familiar with each other, and nobody expects Stanley Johnson to continue playing like this. To what extent though, is the question, and it’d be a shame for the newfound productivity of the Pistons’ starting five to be wasted.