The Detroit Pistons are will have some decisions to make in the backcourt rotation, but head coach Dwane Casey plans on using occasional three-guard lineups.
The Detroit Pistons have entered a whole new world with their revamped roster. While their frontcourt starting lineup is basically set in stone to begin the season, their backcourt has more variation available to head coach Dwane Casey.
As of the beginning of training camp, Casey projects rookie Killian Hayes to start at point guard, but between Hayes, Derrick Rose and Delon Wright, the Pistons have plenty of combinations they could utilize at both guard spots.
With all these options, just what is a head coach to do?
He’s going to have to decide on a starting duo, but the three talented guards do provide Casey with some fascinating options. The most intriguing possibility is a three-guard lineup to feature the whole trio all at once.
Just rolling all three of them onto the floor doesn’t answer all the questions, however. Depending on who’s running the point, the Pistons can present several different looks.
Rose can space the floor off the ball, although not in a classic sense, thanks to his solid mid-range game and his reputation pulls defenders further out than perhaps they should venture. On the downside, he’s not a premiere playmaker and might get tunnel vision that diminishes the returns that this trio can provide.
Killian Hayes isn’t yet a strong 3-point shooter, although there’s reason to believe he can improve this. He is, however, a top-notch playmaker, and as he acclimates to the NBA it would likely make some sense to run the offense for these three-guard lineups through the rookie.
Last season Delon Wright shot 37.0 percent from 3-point range alongside Luka Doncic with the Dallas Mavericks. It’s not a spectacular rate, but it forces teams to respect him and that’s way more than half the battle in the NBA.
So at this early stage, Hayes seems like the logical option to run the point once Casey is comfortable putting him in that position.
The Detroit Pistons 3-guard lineup unlocks small-ball options
This would be an ideal guard core to a small-ball lineup, as well. Jerami Grant shot 38.9 percent from 3-point range last season and could play small-ball four, while Blake Griffin could play the nominal five in this lineup. While Griffin’s on-ball play is generally considered a strength, he could be utilized as a screener and floor-spacer in lineups featuring multiple ball-handlers.
Say what you will about this roster, but it has plenty of people who can handle the ball, and a number of them don’t need the ball in order to be effective on offense as well. It’s a far cry from previous iterations of this Detroit Pistons roster, and it’s a big reason that Griffin was relied upon to shoulder so much of the load on the offensive end in the past.
We’ll likely see Dwane Casey play plenty of lineup roulette on this completely new roster, but this unit of Rose, Hayes, Wright, Grant and Griffin might be the most interesting lineup we’ll see on the floor in the early stages of the 2020-21 season.