Under the Hood – it’s time to see what’s really going on inside this Pistons team.
Jalen Duren returned from injury last night to a monster game of 31 points and 15 rebounds while shooting 12-for-13 from the field. He’s continuing to expand his range away from the rim and even started last night’s game with a turnaround midrange shot.
He even showed off his handle a little bit shortly later on this dribble pull-up. I know JD has gotten compared to Bam Adebayo before, but is Bam even putting it on the floor like this?
Even if he’s expanding his game and looking to add a jumper to his offensive bag, he’ll always have his ability to dunk on people.
Detroit shot 26% from deep and 73% from the line, but those inefficiencies didn’t matter when they shot a high 55% from the field and had 66 points in the paint.
This team won’t out-shoot you from three-point land, but they’ll wear your down with physicality over 48 minutes. It has proven to work so far this season, however, I can’t say I’m not a little worried as I think of playoff time.
There’s the Ivey injury, the Beasley situation, and all the injuries the team is currently dealing with to contribute to their shooting struggles, but I do believe this team needs to be better from deep. Hopefully those contributions come from the players already on the roster, but it wouldn’t surprise me to see a roster shakeup to bring in more shooting around Cade.
I think this team would struggle in a playoff series against teams like Cleveland or Milwaukee without having more consistent threats from deep.
Daniss Jenkins is now averaging 21.8 points and 7.8 assists over his last four games while shooting 49% from the field. He looks extremely competent in the pick-and-roll and looks like he can handle backup point guard minutes when Cade sits.
I love the one-handed steamers he throws to open shooters.
He’s also capable of making a pocket pass to a rolling big.
And even when the pick-and-roll is guarded well, he can still keep his eyes up to find a cutting teammate.
