Detroit Pistons: 3 goals for the 2019 offseason

1. Build around Blake

Whether it’s free agency or the draft, the Pistons’ main goal for this offseason should be to build around Griffin. They need to add more shooters along with capable defenders on the wings. Griffin led the team in points and assists last year, and Casey actively worked to run the offense through him, similar to the way the Denver Nuggets run through Nikola Jokic. The problem wasn’t Griffin but the personnel around him.

The Pistons ranked 23nd in 3-point percentage last season despite shooting the sixth most per game in the NBA. Their offense was predicated on shooting from distance, but they didn’t have the shooters to do that.

Blake had the ability to shoot and drive to the basket, but, when he passed out to one of the shooters such as Ish Smith, Stanley Johnson or Bruce Brown Jr., they weren’t able to knock it down.

Among the rotation players that finished the year with the Pistons last season, the only ones that were considered even average defenders were Brown and Maker. As Griffin exerts so much effort on the offensive end, he needs help next to him to take some of that workload off of him. While they have him under contract, their focus needs to be on maximizing his prime. That should be their main goal this summer.