Playoff Takeaways: Detroit’s Lack of Secondary Scorer HAUNTS Team in Playoff Defeat

Playoff Takeaways: Detroit’s Lack of Secondary Scorer HAUNTS Team in Playoff Defeat

It’s now been a few days since the Detroit Pistons lost their first round series to the New York Knicks. In today’s episode, we’re going to recap this series, talk about what we learned and what needs to improve upon this Detroit Pistons roster. In today’s episode, Locked on Pistons podcast. Let’s go. You are Locked On Pistons, your daily Detroit Pistons podcast, part of the Locked Onet. Your team every day. What’s the deal? Welcome back to another episode of the Locked On Pistons podcast. Per usual, I your host Cooko. You can find me over on Twitter, Cooko. I want to thank you guys for making Locked On Pistons your first listen of every single day. We’re free and available on all your podcast platforms. If you haven’t already, head to the YouTube channel at Locked OnPistons. Hit that subscribe button or leave us a fivestar review on whatever podcast platform you’re listening to this on. This is another great way to support the podcast. And today’s episode is brought to you by Monarch Money. Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code locked on NBA at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. Before we go on, you guys know the deal. Go in the description down below, check out the substack. I’ll have a game seven film breakdown or not game seven, a game six film breakdown coming to you guys today when you guys listen Monday hopefully. Um, and also join the playback room. We’ll still be going live throughout the offseason. We’ll be going live throughout the playoffs for part watch parties during the playoff games, non- Pistons. So, if you want to join us with that, check that out as well. Um, but today’s episode we’re just going to be recapping this series, what we learned, what the Pistons have to improve upon, are there any changes that need to happen with the roster immediately that we that we think of. Um, I want to give you guys a little preview of what’s going to happen for the rest of the week, what our content schedule is going to look like. I plan on doing playoff season recaps for each player that ma that played meaningful minutes. We’ll do that and then we’ll get into season recaps and then maybe in between or maybe a little bit earlier than that, we’re gonna have some guests on to talk about what they thought about the Pistons playoff series and what they learned about the Detroit Pistons over that over this time. So that’s what the content is going to look like moving forward. If you guys have any guests that you guys would like to see on the podcast to talk about their thoughts on this first round series with the Pistons, let me know comment section down below or over on Twitter. All right, so let’s go ahead and get into it. The Pistons obviously lost 4-2 to the H, not Houston Rockets. I just got done watching the Houston Rockets lose. Um, I’m recording this right after their game. The Pistons just lost 4-2 to the New York Knicks. And I guess now was a few days to go away with a few days, you know, to calm down and kind of realize that the season is over and, you know, kind of let the emotions go away of the season just being done. um I have more of a uh objective able to analyze the series as a whole fairly without being emotional and not without being you know oh man the Pistons lost kind of thing because the last episode obviously we’re all very sad and upset that the Pistons lost but now I feel better about just pure analysis. So, the first thing I I take away from these playoffs for the Detroit Pistons is is there is a very clear question that they have to get answered this off seasonason. Now, I we’ll get into look, we have the whole offseason talk about whether they should trade for this guy, trade for that guy, whether they should just run it back and be patient. We’ll talk that that’s a conversation that will come up all throughout the offseason. We’ll talk about it probably 50 plus times all offseason. But what no matter what you think the answer is, the Pistons have to come up with an answer of someone to take some of the load off of K. Cunningham offensively, I think that’s the my biggest takeaway from these playoffs is that the Pistons in the fourth quarter had numerous chances to really put the Knicks away. And because they don’t have anyone outside of Kade to really break down a defense, because they don’t have anyone outside of Kade that they can rely upon to be someone who generates good shots con, excuse me, consistently against a half court defense. Because of that, they struggle to close out some of these games. Now, the Kade does need to get better at closing out some of these games and being a better fourth quarter scorer in these in these important times. That will come up in his playoff review. But look, if you’re watching the games fairly, you see the way the Knicks were guarding Kade, it was it was basically we’re not going to let you beat us. Someone else will have to, and if someone else doesn’t, you guys will lose. It was trapping Kate a ton. It was blitzing Kate a ton. Anytime he got inside the three-point line, three guys came over to his side. the kind of gravity and how he was shifting the defense towards him. It’s not a sustainable way of generating offense for his individual player. Now, we did get one fourth quarter out of K where he closed the deal and was able to force a game six, which was big time, game five, 13 points in the fourth quarter, was able to close the deal, shut the door, and give the Pistons another home game, another chance to win the series. But consistently, does Kade need to get better? 100% he does. Well, again, we’ll talk about that in his playoff review. But I feel like the bigger point should be that you can’t consistently generate good offensive shots within the half court if you’re sole creator, your sole scorer is having that much attention put on him with the defense completely shifting towards him every time he dribbles within the three-point line and thinking he will he will consistently be able to close games out for you. I don’t think that’s sustainable. It’s not going to happen. So, the Pistons need to find some kind of answer for a half court scorer, a halfcourt player that can that can take the Pistons half court offense from below average to at least average and then take their their closing lineups, their closing games, their closing half court offense to another level as well. If the Pistons could have just closed out some of these games on the offensive end of the floor, they would have they would either one still be alive right now or two, we would have got to see a game seven and see what would happen. But because of that, they just weren’t able to get it done. I mean, if you look across the court to the other team, you see Jaylen Brunson and Cat. And when Jaylen Brunson didn’t have it going, which was rare, but when he didn’t have it go going, Cat came up and hit huge shots over and over and over again. when Cat wasn’t hitting shots, Jaylen Brunson was hitting shots over and over and over again. There was even the fourth quarter in in this series where Mikuel Bridges had 14 points in a fourth quarter. Like they had multiple guys that could deliver and score within a fourth quarter, create their own shot, take advantage of advantages, and score for themselves. The Pistons just didn’t have that. They didn’t have it consistently in the fourth quarter from other players outside of Cade. And this I guess this will be something else that you know I I’ll save that for the second segment actually. But the Pistons just didn’t have it. So that’s my number one number one takeaway from this series is the Pistons still need I think they got a good core of young guys. Obviously I think they had a good roster. They still had a chance to win these games. They have good supporting pieces. But what they’re missing no matter what TJ Lang tries to tell you guys on Twitter, it’s not the Batman they’re missing. They are missing a Robin. They have, you know what, what’s the analogy that Jimmy Butler’s been using? I don’t know DC characters as much as Marvel characters. So, if we could use Marvel characters, I’d probably be able to do this. But Batman, Robin, I don’t know who’s another like DC like lower level per Alfreds. There you go. Alfreds. They have a bunch of good Alfreds. They even have maybe uh what’s the the green guy in Teen Titans? They have like they have some of those guys, you know. They have they have some lower tier and someone’s going to tell me who’s a DC fan and that guy’s actually a monster. I’m just underrating him. But you guys get what I’m saying. They have some of those guys. They have the role guys. They have the three through five, the three through six or stuff like that. Four through six, no matter, you know, that’s what they got. They need a Robin badly and an offensive one. They need a pure scoreer within the half court. Someone who can create their own shot in isolation. You see in these playoffs, look, I’m as big into the analytics. I am as big into the numbers as anyone else is. Numbers are there for a reason. They’re just telling you what the eyes already saw. But there is a reason why come playoff time, there’s ISO basketball and there’s guys who can score in the mid-range. And there are guys that you need to just go out there. Look, screw all this movement offense. Screw all this other stuff. Give me the ball. I’m going to score in the half court. I am going to create a shot for myself within the half court and I’m going to score. Like that’s what the Pistons need because Kay can do it a little bit. He likes to operate a ton out of pick and roll. They don’t really have a pure isolation guy though. They don’t have one. Not really. Not really. They really just don’t have a pure isolation guy. That’s what they need. They need a guy who in isolation can break you down and go get his own bucket. That’s the thing this team is missing. And that’s why I think will take them to the next level. It doesn’t even have to be to be honest. if they want to get like a short uh uh you know um a short gap answer instead of going after big star hunting or anything. It doesn’t have to be that. You could go get somebody that is like a six-man type of guy that just goes and get his own buckets. Not a catch and shooter, not a movement shooter, but a guy like a Jordan Clarkson that can just create his own shot, get downhill like a prime Jordan Clarkson. Not this current Jordan Clark. But you guys get what I’m saying. That’s what they need. They need someone to help their isolation game because when teams start blitzing and trapping Kade in the pick and roll, it gets tough for them to score within the half court, especially late in games. Late in games, it gets tough. And again, we’ll talk about Kade needing to improve, but he needs help. He needs help in that regard. It can’t just be him. You’re never going to win with just one guy who can do it within the half court. They need another one. So, let me know comment section down below or over on Twitter. What is your guys’s biggest takeaway from the series against the Knicks? Do you guys agree with me? Is that your takeaway or do you have a different one? Again, let me know comment section down below or over on Twitter, Cucker Hill. When we come back, I’ll talk about my second biggest takeaway from this series. And I think this might shock, maybe not shock, but I don’t know if this will be some of you guys one, two, three, or fourth takeaway from this series. We’ll talk about that coming up. This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. The world has made a lot of progress when it comes to mental health, but there’s still a long way to go. Too many people still avoid therapy because they’re afraid of being judged. But the truth is, taking care of your mental health should be just as normal as going to the gym or eating healthy. This mental health awareness month, let’s normalize getting help and encourage everyone to prioritize their well-being. Because when people feel supported, families, workplaces, and entire communities are better for it. We’re all better with help. Visit betterhelope.comlocktonba to get 10% off your first month. That’s betterhelphp.comtonba to get 10% off your first month. You want to talk about something that does a really good job of talking about the importance of mental health and why it’s not it’s not bad to ask for help and talk about it. Thunderbolts. You guys go check out that movie. It does a great job, I think, that just came out. It does a great job and talking about mental health and trying to, you know, help people. So, go check that out. And then after you do that, check out BetterHelp. again, betterhelope.com/lockton NBA to get 10% off your first month with BetterHelp. So, I want to thank you guys again. Make locked Pistons your first listen every single day. We’re free and available on all your podcast platforms. If you haven’t already, head to the YouTube channel, Lockdown Pistons, hit that subscribe button or leave us a fivestar review on whatever podcast platform you’re listening to this on. There’s another great way to support the podcast. You guys know the deal. Go into the description down below. You can find the Substack where I have these film breakdowns and written analysis coming to you guys as well. And also join the playback room for some content throughout the offseason. We’ll probably re-watch some Pistons games, break down some live stuff, maybe watch some years past Pistons games, watch the current playoffs, all kinds of stuff over there. Make sure you guys check it out, subscribe over there. All right. Um, my second biggest takeaway from this Pistons series against the Knicks, I guess I should probably say this real quickly, too, before we get into the takeaway. I hope everyone at the end of the day at the end of the day is able to say you had a lot of fun with this playoff series and are very happy with this Pistons season. And to be honest, for me, I I am I’m more disappoint I’m disappointed that the season is over, that this season is done, but not necessarily because we just don’t because like Piston Basketball isn’t on anymore. It’s more so about like this team is done. Like the 2024, 2025 version of this team is done because this team really did have like a connection, an energy, a funness to them. And it was I I think I know it didn’t result in a playoff series win, but I truly believe that in years to come, this will be viewed as like a special season for a lot of Pistons fans because of the connection, the turnaround. It was just this team was just a lot of fun to get behind and to cover. So the fact that this iteration of this team is done is yeah, you know, it’s it’s tough. It’s sad. It it is sad to to have this iteration done, but overall, I think everyone should be happy and definitely excited about the future and happy with this the results of this season. The Pistons went from winning 14 games to winning two playoff games the next year. Like, come on. All right. So, my second biggest takeaway is the Pistons need to prepare this off seasonason. And I’m not saying they don’t need to resign him. I am firmly in the camp of if you can get a good deal for him, you definitely want to resign him. However, they need to prepare themselves for the again, all this stuff is probably going to be stuff we talk about a ton throughout the offseason, but they need to prepare themselves for the possibility that Malik Beasley crashes down to earth. And the reason why I bring this up is this. If you watch the Pistons all year, and this is no shot to anybody, but I know there’s a lot of casuals listening to the podcast right now, and there’s so many people tuning in right now that maybe didn’t have time or to, you know, or weren’t as interested during the season, kind of came around during the playoffs, that’s fine. But if you didn’t get to watch the Pistons throughout the year, I’ll explain for you. If you guys did get to watch, you guys know that the Pistons half court offense, going back to the first segment so much so much of their half court offense was so heavily relied upon Malik Beasley tough shotmaking. Like I would say north of 50% of their half court offense was relied upon Malik Beasley just going scorched earth and hitting crazy threes throughout games. him getting 13 12 threes up a game. A lot of them being off movement with the hand in his face. So much of their half court offense was just Malik Beasley will get hot, will get hot. He’s an insane tough shot maker and he will carry the offense as an offball scorer. So much of their offense was built around that. They need to prepare for that not being the case moving forward in these playoffs. Malik Beasley struggled mightily. Struggled mightily in the playoffs. And what happened? The Pistons offense crashed to the earth. Now, it’s not obviously if one of your best players doesn’t play well, the offense isn’t going to be as great, obviously. But it goes deeper than that. The Pistons again, they weren’t they don’t generate enough shots or enough good looks within their half court offense to with this current roster to sustain Malik Beasley going cold. When he goes cold, their offense is cooked. Their offense is cooked within the half court. They have to completely rely upon scoring out of transition, scoring in fast break, scoring on defense. That’s what they have to heavily rely upon when Malik Beasley is not Scorched St. And when he is when he is obviously it’s great. But this roster was not prepared for him. And look, you could throw THA in there, but I don’t think THA had as near as much of an impact on the season or the playoffs as as Malik Beasley would. But when Malik Beasley goes cold, it changes everything. And he was cold throughout this these playoffs. So, if I’m the Detroit Pistons, I need I I again, I’m not saying you don’t resign Malik, but I I don’t believe you can just bring the team completely back as it as it is because expecting Malik Beasley to shoot as well and to make the type of shots he did for the most part this last season again, I it’s possible. I just don’t know how realistic it is. I don’t know how realistic it is. So, you can bring him back, but this roster kns to be built this off season. These additional, you know, pieces that get brought onto the team. They these pieces need to be the pieces brought in need to help the Pistons be prepared in the event that they do bring back Beasley and he doesn’t shoot that well and he’s not this crazy shotmaker again that they are not going to just be completely screwed by it. Because if they were to bring this team back and Malik Beasley drops from 41.6% from deep on 9.3 attempts to 38 37% from three on 9.3 attempts. That changes everything. That would change so much for their offense. That that would change so much. They needed every little bit of Malik Beasley shooting this past year. So, I would just like it if this team built and added some pieces to sustain the the possible Malik Beasley uh coming back down to the mean the upcoming year. Again, none of this stuff has to be swing for the superstars, swing for Devin Booker, you know, anything like that. You don’t have to be giving up massive assets, but just preparing getting your team in a position where they they not that relied upon cuz they were too heavily relied upon for for Malik Beasley shooting. If your team is is is win or lose based off Malik Beasley three-point shooting, it’s your roster isn’t talented enough. Your roster isn’t good enough for the playoffs. And I think that reared its ugly head in the playoffs for the Detroit Pistons. I again, I’m not saying you don’t resign Beasley. I’d like Beasley to come back. I would resign him just in the case that he doesn’t have the same season. Just have a, you know, something else you can go to within the half court offense, which again goes back to the first segment when we talk about having some isolation scoring. All right. So, the other takeaway that I had from this series is look, I love him. I do. You guys know how strong I feel about Cade and I’ve said it over and over on this podcast when I’ve when we’ve talked about this. I’ve said this is probably going to be something he struggles with throughout his career because most high usage guys have times when they struggle with this. They’ll have, you know, games, stretches where they’ve struggled with it and then come back down to the mean. The turnovers got a little they were a bit much for Kade and they’ve been a bit much all year for him. He has to improve his turnovers. He can’t keep turning the ball over this much. The Pistons were they turned the ball over the second most of any team in the playoffs in the first round. The only team that turned the ball over more with the FE were the not Phoenix Suns, the Memphis Grizzlies, who got just demolished by the Oklahoma City Thunder. The fact that the Pistons were able to get two games on the Knicks while averaging 16.5 turnovers a game is somewhat remarkable and speaks to, you know, their defense and their ability to stay composed throughout games. But they had a bad turnover issue throughout the season. They had a bad turnover issue in the playoffs and in both the regular season and in the playoffs. Turnovers reared their ugly head in the fourth quarter and in closing m moments. I think Kade needs to improve his handle. Um I think he needs to improve his strength on some of his drives. I also just think he needs to improve his decision- making uh when he’s there’s been look there’s some of these turnovers are created are created by the defense because of the attention that he’s drawing right now because there’s no one else on the floor that can create. So like there’s some there’s some turnovers in the fourth quarter where he’s driving to the rim and there’s like three four guys digging down with the ball and he just loses it. Now, you can say better decision-m don’t drive into those guys. That that’s fair. But also, having someone else that the defense has to pay attention to as a scorer probably would help in that scenario. But overall, Kade does have some loose loosey goose, you know, turnovers. He does have some laxidasical turnovers where he just throws the ball away. I It doesn’t feel like he values at at moments. It feels like he tries things that maybe you shouldn’t try, just be safer with it. At the end of the day, the turnovers just have to be better. If I went there was a stat that popped up the today that I saw it was all the high usage guys in the playoffs and then their turnover numbers. And Cade was by far number one in turnovers. By far. I think he averaged 5.3 turnovers in the playoffs with the type of usage he had. He was number one of all high usage guys. So look, and all the high usage guys had three plus, but Cade was way far ahead with like 5.3. That’s that’s just way too much. and some of them did come at the end of games. So, I think that’s a main area Cade will look to improve upon. His ball handling, his strength, um, and just decision- making, but the Pistons as a team, I mean, it wasn’t just Kate. Dur some high turnover games. Assara had some high turnover games. You Shruder had some high like everyone, this was a team thing. Kade leads it, but this was a team thing that they have to get better at. They can’t turn the ball over as much as they did this year and in the playoffs. it’s going to put you behind the eightball and you can’t you can’t consistently win games. Again, it was remarkable that they were able to get two games turning the ball over as much as they were. So, that’s an area that was my next biggest takeaway um from this series against the Knicks. They the turnovers killed them. They they have to get better with taking care of the ball. Let me know in comment section down below what are some other takeaways from you guys about this series against the New York Knicks. Coming up, we’ll finish off the episode with my final takeaways of the series and then moving forward future episodes, we’ll get into player playoff reviews and also have some guests on talk about their takeaways and what they believe about the Pistons after this playoff series. But before we get into that, we’ll be right back. Ever check your bank account and wonder where did all my money go? 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So I want to thank you guys again for making locked on Pistons your first listen every single day free and available on all your podcast platforms. If you haven’t already, head to the YouTube channel at lockedonpistons. Hit that subscribe button or leave us a fivestar review on whatever podcast platform you’re listening to us on. That’s another great way to support the podcast. And you guys know the deal. Go to the description down below, click the links, subscribe to the substack and the playback room. Appreciate all of you guys. All right, my final takeaways. I I maybe I shouldn’t say final. I’m sure there’s a bunch of other things we’ll talk about throughout the offseason, but my final takeaways right now for the series against the Knicks, it’s actually about something that really didn’t even happen in the series. It just made me, you know, over the last few days, I really thought about it. You guys know that K Cunningham, Jane Ivy, Assar Thompson, Tobias Harrison, Jaylen Durren played a combined two minutes together this year. Two minutes. Cade, Ivy, Assar, Tobias, and Duran. what I would think is your go is going to be their starting lineup moving forward and unless there are some massive changes I would expect expect that that is your starting lineup and what they would have started if Ivy was healthy. Cade Ivy Assar Tobias Durn played a combined two minutes all year. That that right there is my next takeaway from this next series is that you really feel the the the the lack of or not I guess the better word is not having Jane Ivy’s presence on the floor. And everyone knows I haven’t been the biggest Jane Ivy fan. I’m definitely not his number one fan. There’s definitely some other guys that are maybe a little bit more higher on him than I am. But I don’t think anybody, even Jane Ivy’s biggest hater, there’s no way you watch this series and come away thinking, man, the Pistons could have really used him. Even if it’s not to answer the question, maybe he isn’t the ISO guy. Maybe he is. But even if you remove you remove that simply having his ability to attack downhill when the Pistons have man advantages the if the Pistons if the Knicks I should say wanted to trap and blitz Cade having Jane Ivy attacking downhill against a tilted defense is when he’s at his best. Jane Ivy is a really good offball scorer. He’s a good catch andoot scorer. He’s great at cutting. He’s great at attacking gaps. He’s great at getting downhill to the rim against a tilted defense and finishing at the rim. That’s when he’s at his best. And if the Knicks I wonder I just truly have wondered over the last few days. Would the Knicks have guarded Cade this way if Ivy was on the floor? My answer is probably they still probably would have said someone else beat us besides Cade. We don’t trust every we we don’t trust or how should I say this? We do not believe that anyone else will beat us besides Kate. Even with Ivy on the floor, we will take our chances. We think Cade can beat us. I do think they probably would have still trapped Kade. They probably would have played aggressive on Cade, but I think the Pistons would have had a much better chance of making them pay. And I do think they probably would have won this series if Ivy was healthy. They would have had a better chance attacking these four- situations and having another ball handler within the half court that can get to the rim and finish at the rim and draw fouls and is electric and and all that stuff. It just had me thinking like, man, this team Ivy really would have really had a good series, I think, against the Knicks with that kind of coverage they were playing. They would have had to change their coverage or Ivy would have had a a really he would have broke out, I feel like, in these playoffs with this kind of coverage going on because he’s great at attacking this off ball and feeding off of Cage’s gravity. If they changed their coverage to where they didn’t play as aggressive so get so they could stay home on guys like Ivy, then it would have opened up everything for Kade and it would have made it so much easier for Kade to score and he would have had a more efficient series. So either way, just having Ivy’s presence would have been big time and I think it would have ch either it would have changed how the Knicks wanted to guard Pistons and Cade or the Pistons would have done a much better job exploiting it within the half court. So that that was the next thing I just haven’t been able to stop thinking about. over the last few days. Now, I guess the final takeaway is Stu proved his value, I think, so much in this series by not playing after game one. The fact that the Pistons played as good of defense as they did, and again, still were able to win another game and prolong this series without seeing Isaiah Stewart is a testament to all of them. Jaylen Durren, Assar, every single player on the floor that was giving it their all without Stew gives them a ton of credit. But man, if they had Stew again, I congratulations to the Knicks. I’m not going to sit here and say if if if if. But like, man, Stu Stu’s presence was was missed dearly in this series, man. They could have desperately used some of his minutes, especially against Cat, especially when Tobias got in foul trouble in game three. I I believe. Yeah, game three, four. Yeah, in games three and four when Tobias got in foul trouble, bringing in Stu to then guard Cat. I don’t know if Cat goes off like that if Stu is out there, but having the shift during now to him and not being able to roam off a heart really killed them in those in those games. So, I thought the presence of Ivy and Stu was were were dearly missed in in this series and things may have gone differently, which I we’ll talk about throughout the offseason. I think is probably one of the main reasons why a lot of people will say you don’t need to make big moves, just come back healthy and bring your squad back. I will say, and we’ll wrap this up here, there’s something to pay attention to. I I’ve completely done a 180 in Stu. I love Steu. I think he’s incredibly valuable. Just something to watch for. He has not been able to close the season out the last three years. I I don’t want to say it’s incredibly concerning, but it’s at least something to be maybe not worried about, but it’s something to watch for. He hasn’t been able to make it through a season uh the last three years. So, just again, I love Stu. I think he I’ve done a complete 180 on him. I think he’s incredibly valuable, but something to watch for. Something to watch for. I you’d like to see him be able to finish out his season. Not blaming him, but you know, it it is something notable to just pay attention to, I guess, moving forward. But that’s all I’ve got for you guys today. Thank you guys. Make locked on Pistons your first listen of every single day. Free and available on all your podcast platforms. Hit that subscribe button to the YouTube channel. Leave us a fivestar review, whatever podcast platform you’re listening to us on. And until next time, I’ll see you guys later. Stay safe out there. Until next time, peace out.

Can the Detroit Pistons overcome their playoff hurdles and rise to the top? With Cade Cunningham leading the charge, the Pistons need a secondary scorer to support their star player. This episode breaks down the Detroit Pistons’ playoff series loss to the New York Knicks, highlighting the impact of missing key players like Jaden Ivey and Isaiah Stewart. Discover how Malik Beasley’s shooting struggles affected the Pistons’ offense and why reducing turnovers is crucial for future success.

Join the discussion on the Pistons’ path forward, featuring insights on potential roster changes and strategic adjustments. Don’t miss this chance to gain insider knowledge on the Pistons’ journey and what lies ahead.

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