Detroit Pistons: Anonymous Scouts Dish on 2016-17 Season Outlook

What’s Good and What Needs to Get Better

With a returning core, most of the Pistons’ chance to improve over last season hinges on individual player development. A scout touched on one very important area to see that improvement:

"They have a bunch of guys who are decent shooters, but they need some of them to step up and be closer to 40 percent than 35 percent from three. KCP especially, but also Marcus Morris, Tobias Harris, Stanley Johnson. It’s reasonable to think all those guys can shoot 34-35 from three, but they need that group collectively to average more like 38-39% to really give them spacing for the Drummond pick-and-rolls."

It’s not just about shooting a higher percentage to make an extra shot or two per game, but the impact it has on the offense on the whole as the defense reacts. Van Gundy’s offense is at its best when he has four three-point shooting threats on the floor. The Pistons often have four guys on the court who can hit the three, but not always at a high enough clip to make the defense really key in on all four guys.

Speaking of the pick-and-roll, adding Ish Smith should help there as well, regardless of whether or not the Pistons can open up more space than they did last year. Drummond was very good in pick-and-roll situations but the Pistons really only had Reggie Jackson capable of running it with him. When Jackson wasn’t on the floor, that part of the offensive game fell apart.

"That said, they’re pretty defensively versatile with that group. KCP, Stanley who they’re very high on and have high hopes for, who’s very young still. Marcus Morris, Tobias Harris, they’re versatile with that group. Those are all solid players"

The defensive versatility means the Pistons can switch without giving mismatches. That’s a nice advantage for them, but they need to show defensive intensity more often than they did a year ago. Maybe that’s part of the learning process for a young group, but a high character group like the Pistons have should bring defensive effort more consistently.

"Drummond has sort of flatlined. I think Reggie Jackson is who he is at this point. The growth of KCP and Stanley is really important to this team."

Is there a little bit of a hot take in there? I’m not sure that Drummond has flatlined given his last season was a step up from the one before. Maybe he now is what he’ll be and he will never hit 50% of free throws, but I think we need another data point to say that he’s flatlined overall.