Isaiah Joe’s arrival gives the Detroit Pistons something they didn’t really have last season: another shooter defenses have to respect every time he steps into a catch-and-shoot look.
That matters because Detroit’s offense worked in a pretty unusual way during the regular season. The Pistons finished with the 9th-highest offensive rating in the league, but they got there by bullying teams in the paint and pushing in transition.
It was effective, but it was also built on a thin margin. With only one elite 3-point shooter on the roster in Duncan Robinson, the spacing just wasn’t strong enough to hold up once the games got tighter.
That weakness showed up in the playoffs, when Detroit’s offensive rating fell by seven points. The Pistons could no longer rely on paint dominance alone, and Cade Cunningham was left carrying a massive load. He still put up 28 points, 7.5 assists and 5.5 rebounds per game in the playoffs, but the turnovers were a problem, and the lack of spacing was part of the reason.
Joe should help change that.
The Pistons still need Cunningham to be the engine, but they now have more than one real weapon from deep, and that alone should make life cleaner for him. Detroit can finally put an elite shooter on the floor at all times and, more importantly, build lineups with multiple floor spacers instead of one.
Duncan Robinson and Isaiah Joe may be the best two shooters the Pistons have had at the same time. The team’s offensive rebirth began when it added Malik Beasley and Tim Hardaway Jr., with Beasley delivering one of the best 3-point shooting seasons in history. Joe isn’t being projected to match that kind of production, but he does bring the kind of skill that can stretch a defense in a hurry.
He was 43 percent on catch-and-shoot 3-pointers last season and posted a 64 percent effective field goal percentage in those situations. By comparison, Caris LeVert shot 35 percent and 52.8 percent.
That’s the difference between a guy defenses can ignore and a guy they have to chase. Joe is already comfortable playing off a ball-dominant lead guard, which makes him a natural fit next to Cunningham.
Put Joe, Robinson and John Collins on the floor together, and the middle opens up. That should give Cunningham cleaner driving lanes and, ideally, cut down on some of the turnovers that came from having to do too much on his own.
Detroit didn’t just add another shooter. It added the second elite shooter it was missing. And for Cade Cunningham, that should make everything a little easier.
In Other News...
Pistons Just Got A New Reason To Worry About Ausar Thompson's Price
The market for young wing talent may be climbing faster than the Pistons would like. Houston is reportedly moving toward a long-term deal for Amen Thompson, and the number being discussed could push well past the kind of price Detroit had hoped to keep in mind as it works through its own future with Ausar Thompson. Both Thompsons are eligible for extensions before the season, which matters because it would take them out of restricted free agency next summer and give their teams more control over the timeline.
For Detroit, the timing is especially tricky. Ausar has already become a key defensive piece, and the Pistons have made extending him a priority, but those talks have been slowed by the ongoing negotiation with Jalen Duren. The longer that lingers, the more the market around comparable young players can shift, and Houstons move on Amen only adds another layer of urgency for a front office trying to manage multiple big decisions at once. [Read more 🡒]
Pistons Suddenly Face One Big Question About Cade And Duren
After a historically rough 2023-24 season, the Pistons are at least looking at a much brighter long view, with Cade Cunningham and Jalen Duren expected to sit at the center of whatever comes next. Detroit still has future first-round picks to work with, which gives the front office real flexibility as it weighs whether to keep adding young talent around its core or use that capital to chase more established help.
The bigger question now is how the roster around Cunningham and Duren gets shaped before that next leap arrives. There are already important decisions taking form with the young group on hand, and Detroit has to sort out which pieces fit a rising team and which ones might eventually be better used as trade currency. [Read more 🡒]
Pistons May Soon Face A Costly Young Wing Dilemma
Salary-cap pressures can force even contending teams to make uncomfortable choices, and the Nuggets decision to move Peyton Watson is a reminder of how quickly a promising young wing can become part of a bigger financial puzzle. Detroit is staring at a similar kind of question with Ron Holland II, whose development could put the Pistons in a spot where his next contract becomes much more than a routine roster decision.
If Holland takes the kind of leap that changes the conversation around his place in the rotation, the Pistons will have to weigh the long view against the cost of keeping another young piece in the fold. Restricted free agency is one thing in theory and another in practice, especially for a team trying to build a sustainable payroll, and that is the kind of planning issue that can turn a developmental success into a difficult front-office dilemma. [Read more 🡒]