The Whiteboard: How the Pistons finally found their way back

The Detroit Pistons annoyed the Nuggets on Saturday night.

Denver eventually cruised to a 134-121 win behind some offensive firepower of their big three of Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, and Michael Porter Jr..

But throughout the game, the Pistons’ physicality bothered the Nuggets. Tempers flared.

Some of it was just a tired team getting beat by double digits on the last night of their West Coast road trip.

But not all of it.

Detroit’s not the bad boys, but they do have something you need from a team trying to rebuild from the depths of hell they found themselves in last year during the NBA record 28-game losing streak.

Spirit.

OK, sure, that sounds like something a high school sophomore yells at the top of a human pyramid while in tears because Tommy told her he liked her friend Kelsey. (Why are they all named Kelsey?!)

But in the NBA over the course of an 82-game season for teams that don’t have serious aspirations, it’s important. You have to want to fight. You have to want to win these games and not just get some stats and collect the paycheck.

Detroit is not out here collecting checks.

The Pistons have now won four of six, knocking off the Heat, the Suns, the Lakers, and the Kings. They sent each of those teams spiraling into existential crises involving trades and firing coaches.

They’ve ticked off the three things they needed:
* Cade Cunningham and Jaden Ivey made leaps
* Their shot selection rose out of the dumpster
* They have lineups that work.

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How the Detroit Pistons got here

Let’s go backward.

The 'best five' lineup of Cade Cunningham, Jaden Ivey, Malik Beasley, Tobias Harris, and Jalen Duren have only played 62 minutes together, but have beaten opponents by 15.4 points per 100 possessions in those minutes.

Their staggered bench lineup, with Cade next to Simone Fontecchio, Beasley, rookie Ron Holland, and Isaiah Stewart, is even better, with a +18.8 net rating.

They can actually build successful lineups. They are not just deciding on how to lose by less.

Their starters are losing, and that’s not all on Tim Hardaway Jr. (-11.5 on vs. off); they are probably going to lose to the starters for teams over .500.

But it shows that the progress is there.

Detroit was 24th last season in expected eFG%, which is what you should shoot based on league averages from the locations you take shots from. This has been a rough characteristic of Monty Williams’ teams. Williams is a good coach despite the horrific Pistons experience, but his teams don’t take great shots.

You can be successful with a bad shot profile if you have personnel who are great from those particularly tough places. But if you don’t, like the Pistons do not and have not, you need to take better shots.

That’s up to 14th this season, and while that still leaves a long way to go, it shows that J.B. Bickerstaff is moving them in the right direction. As partly a result of better shots and improved shooting from players like Ivey and Cunningham, they moved to 17th in eFG% compared to 28th last year.

That’s like going from throwing rocks at a wall to at least a discus toss. They’re working their way toward actual basketball shooting.

And finally, the best part, their young stars popped. Cunningham showed flashes of this last year, but his jump this year is something else. He has a 42.6 assist percentage, which is 99th percentile in the league.

Ivey’s jump is just as meaningful, adding a third three-point threat with their lineups and Ivey’s big-shot ability (like the 4-point play to break the Kings) is huge.

Throw all this together with a team that is resolute in not falling apart and seeing the same kind of misery last year brought and you have one of the most fun teams on league pass this season.

Detroit Basketball is back, because they’ve got spirit!

Or something.

NBA news and rumors roundup

• The Lakers finally made a trade on Sunday, sending D’Angelo Russell and three second-round picks to the Nets for Dorrian Finney-Smith. DFS was one of the best-regarded trade targets and gives the Lakers another big wing who can shoot as they move more toward no-PG lineups.
• Maybe most interesting is that the Lakers beat out the Memphis Grizzlies, who were “on the goalline” for DFS, according to a league source Saturday morning. There is some concern that Ja Morant’s shoulder AC sprain is serious, and you wonder how that played into trade talks for DFS.
• The Thunder clocked the Grizzlies without Morant on Sunday, once again proving they are the class of the Western Conference with a 130-106 win behind 35 from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
• A big brawl also highlighted Sunday’s games with the Heat and Rockets getting into it resulting in six ejections.
• Finally, Wembanyama did this, whatever this is is.

The five best NBA teams at keeping the opponent out of the fastbreak

Here are the top-five teams in opponent time spent in transition this season, regardless of how well they score in those situations, via Synergy Sports. Just slowing teams down is always going to improve your defense.

1. Sacramento Kings (14.2%): I was stunned by this with Sacramento’s up-and-down style. Their defensive problems are all in halfcourt, but they do run back. Or did, under Mike Brown, at least.

2. Oklahoma City Thunder (16.1%): No surprise here; the most disciplined defensive team in the league never lets you get easy buckets on them.

3. Miami Heat (17.0%): Another no-surprise, as Spo’s expert coaching means a high level of accountability for not getting beat down the floor for the hardest-working etc. team in the league.

4. Charlotte Hornets (17.1%): A little stunner and a good sign for Charlotte who’s dealing with another disappointing season, but Charles Lee is having them do the right things.

5. Detroit Pistons (17.3%): Like I said, the Pistons are headed in the right direction, and JB Bickerstaff deserves a lot of credit for putting in the basics to give them the chance to compete.