Detroit Pistons: Signs Of Defensive Promise
By Adam McGee
It’s been a horrible opening six weeks to the season for the Detroit Pistons, and as a result it’s not that easy to find positives. One thing that has become clear is that their path back to success is going to be a slow process, that will have to be taken step by step.
So, the same applies for their work on the court. The Pistons aren’t ready to take bounding leaps forward, but small improvements should still prove to be cause for encouragement.
Trying to pinpoint problems with how the Pistons played last year can be tricky, purely because there’s so much to choose from. One overwhelming issue that prevented the team from success though was their defense.
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Detroit ranked 25th in the NBA in defensive rating, and 27th in the league in opponent field goal percentage. Not exactly a solid foundation to build a winning team on.
As much as was made of Stan Van Gundy’s love of spacing the floor when he took over as head coach in the Motor City though, traditionally he has put just as strong an emphasis on creating a strong defensive identity for his teams.
Although the Pistons roster isn’t necessarily overflowing with defensive stalwarts at the moment, there’s evidence of Van Gundy’s mindset taking effect in the Palace of Auburn Hills.
Ranking second from bottom in the NBA in terms of points per game at 93.3 a night, it’s no surprise that most of the games in which the Pistons have won or pushed their opponent close this season, have tended to be low scoring affairs.
If Detroit lets their opponent soar past 100 points, they might as well forget about their hopes of coming out on top.
This is what makes steady defensive progress so important for the Pistons, and the early signs of it this season should at least give the fans hope that there’s potential for the team’s fortunes to change as the season goes on.
To get an idea of where Stan Van Gundy’s defense has bettered itself, let’s compare some stats year on year with last season’s 29 win team.
Starting with the most basic of measures, last season Detroit’s opponents made an average of 47 percent of their field goal attempts, while this year that number has dropped off to 45.3 percent.
Although that number is still far from elite, it marks a climb up from being one of the most generous teams in the NBA, to a team who, ranked 16th in the league, are now only really giving up the NBA average.
How does that get broken down? Well quite simply, Detroit seem to be protecting the rim much better this year. Funnily enough, they’re blocking 0.4 shots less per game compared with last year, but it’s clear they’re offering much better contests.
Having given up more than 60 percent of their opponents attempts from within five feet in 2013-14, that number has now fallen to 56.5 percent.
Even in measuring the team’s defensive rating, they’ve gone from allowing 107.3 points per 100 possessions last season, to 104.9 this year.
These aren’t groundbreaking improvements, but for a team who has been on the league’s defensive floor for the past couple of years, and has had very little to celebrate so far in this young season, this is at least a sign of the earliest stages of progress for the Detroit Pistons.