AUBURN HILLS – The Pistons weren’t a great nor an especially prolific 3-point shooting team last season. They ranked No. 10 in the number of triples launched but only 22nd in accuracy.
Stan Van Gundy expected that latter number, especially, would improve this season and put stock in the individual progress of several young players over the off-season to drive the leap.
That hasn’t happened. In fact, if the Pistons were only performing at last year’s levels – both in frequency of 3-point attempts and accuracy – they’d be averaging five more points a game, 106.5 instead of 101.5. That would give them the league’s 12th best scoring offense, tied with San Antonio. Instead, they’re 26th in scoring.
If they were shooting at the league averages in 3-point attempts (26.9) and accuracy (.359) instead of their current figures – 23.2 attempts, 26th in the league; and .320 accuracy, 28th – they’d be up a full seven points a game at 108.5 – the league’s No. 6 scoring offense.
Coupled with their No. 9-ranked defense, it’s fair to guess the Pistons would be jockeying with Boston and Washington for the No. 2 playoff seed in the East behind Cleveland and not scrapping with Milwaukee, Miami and Chicago for the final two playoff spots.
Stan Van Gundy accepts that there’s not much he can do to steer the ball toward the rim once it leaves a shooter’s hand. Other than that, he’s pouring his energy into correcting everything about the Pistons’ offense before that moment.
Screening, spacing, execution. Attention to detail. More time spent on it in practice.
“We’ve got to focus on the things you can control,” he said after Saturday’s practice. “You’re going to have bad shooting nights. But you shouldn’t have bad spacing nights. You shouldn’t have a bad execution night. We’ve got to be crisper in our execution. We’ve got to screen people and then create quality shots for each other with good ball movement and if those don’t go in, well, they don’t go in. But I think they will go in if we create better shots.”
The Pistons had pulled themselves to .500 a week ago, but they’ve gone 0-3 since and shot 19 percent from the 3-point line in those losses with just 10 total triples over the three losses. Their offense broke down completely in the final nine minutes of Friday’s 87-75 loss to Toronto, scoring just three points on 1 of 14 shooting. Players like Marcus Morris (4 of 28 in his last two games) and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (8 of 25) are in deep slumps.
So much of Saturday’s practice was devoted to watching the final 19 minutes of the game on videotape and then working on offensive execution. Van Gundy said they’ve probably devoted 75 percent or more of practice time to defense this season and takes responsibility for not building better habits offensively.
“I don’t say that to absolve our players of responsibility, because a lot of the things we’re talking about are very basic basketball, NBA things that you probably should be able to do all the time,” he said. “But I don’t think I’ve done a good enough job really hammering home execution, spacing and things in our offense and I have to take responsibility for that.”
While watching Friday’s drought, Van Gundy said Beno Udrih pointed out that one player was perhaps 2 feet off of his mark in the corner off of the ball.
“A lot of NBA players think, OK, my offense starts when the ball comes into my hands and now it’s my job to make a shot or make a play,” he said. “Beno made the point. He’s a point guard. Two feet make a difference. Not sure our guys are totally bought into that. I don’t mean they’re rebellious against it. But I think when they play, I don’t think they’re really locked into it. Again, I take the responsibility for not having driven that stuff home.”
And with 13 games remaining, he’s focused on getting it fixed – now, not in the off-season.
“We can make it better,” he said. “I don’t think you ever – at least I don’t – throw up your hands and say, ‘Oh, well. That’s where we are.’ We worked on it today.”
The schedule gives the Pistons a shot to turn it around in a hurry, with their next five games over nine days coming against teams currently out of the playoffs, starting with Sunday’s home game with Phoenix followed by four on the road.
But as has been demonstrated to them in recurring doses this season, no matter the status of their opponent, they can’t win shooting 20 percent or worse from the 3-point line. Cleaning up their habits in all those moments that lead to the shot is what their coach advises to reverse course.