Detroit Pistons: 3 takeaways from Game 4 loss vs. Bucks

3. Pistons need some wing defenders

Thirty-one — that’s the number of fouls that the Pistons committed in their closeout game, and a number of them were committed against Giannis. He was driving to the basket at will, and there was nothing they could do to slow him down. There isn’t much that anyone in the NBA can do to slow him down, but the Pistons have no one that can match up with any of the league’s bigger wings.

Stanley Johnson and Reggie Bullock both would’ve been good fits in that role, but they were traded away. This offseason’s focus needs to be on adding wing players. They need to be 3-and-D guys that can start at the small forward spot. That’s the type of player Detroit has been missing and it showed in this series — against Giannis and Khris Middleton in particular — how important it will be for them to fill that void this offseason.

In the draft, they could look at guys like De’Andre Hunter, P.J. Washington and Nassir Little, or they could try to land someone in free agency. The bottom line is that they need more players in that area of the roster. If they don’t build that spot up, they’ll have a similar level of failure at the end of next season.