Jon Leuer was one of the most consistent players for the Detroit Pistons during their troubled 2016-17 season. His presence on the court is key to the Pistons’ success.
The Detroit Pistons have a lot of decisions to make during the offseason. However, keeping Jon Leuer and expanding his role for next season should be one of them.
In an effort to improve their shooting after being eliminated by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round of the 2016 NBA Playoffs, the Pistons signed Jon Leuer to a four-year, $42 million contract last summer.
The forward started off the season adding floor spacing to the Pistons’ offense that they desperately needed. Leuer started the season shooting 37.5 percent from the three-point line. He was even added to the starting lineup in December, replacing Tobias Harris.
But the forward went on the decline after that, and the Pistions’ offense went along with him. Before the All-Star break, Leuer was averaging 11.2 points per game on 51.2 percent shooting. He was also shooting 32.5 percent from deep.
Leuer’s numbers dipped to 8.2 points on 40.9 percent shooting from the field and 20.5 percent from deep after the All-Star break. His three-point shooting is the most appalling. In addition to shooting 12 percent worse on three-pointers after the break, Leuer shot 29.3 percent from deep for the season. That was nearly his career-low in three-point shooting.
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It’s clear that his confidence waned. But head coach Stan Van Gundy chose to stick with him, even though he noticed his struggles:
“I’ve got to talk to him. Jon was a very good player through the first 50 games of the year. Like, you look at the numbers—very good……one of the best power forwards in the league. And over the last 25 games, one of the worst,” Van Gundy said, according to mlive.com.
However, in spite of all of that, Leuer still managed to have a pretty successful season. He averaged a career high of 10.2 points per game and has generally contributed to the Pistons’ offense for the most part. Although his three-point shooting was subpar, he was the leading scorer for a decent amount of games this season. He also scored a career-high of 24 points in a 116-108 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves back in February.
Thus, the Pistons should be focused on his improvement during the offseason. He has been more consistent than others during a disastrous 2016-17 season for the Pistions, and they can rely on him to play his role moving forward.
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If he can be more consistent and improve his three-point shot, he will be able to help save this team’s crippling offense. Given that he has three years left on his four-year contract, Stan Van Gundy should try to consider ways in which Leuer can expand his role for the team.