There was not a lot of fun to be had for the Detroit Pistons last night in their blowout loss to the New York Knicks – but that doesn’t mean we can’t learn from the tape to see where the Pistons need to improve.
JB Bickerstaff seems to think our defense has to improve from the starting center position. It took only one minute for JBB to bring his first sub into the game during the third quarter – and that was Isaiah Stewart for Jalen Duren. Another stretch five, another night struggling on defense for JD.
What did JBB see that led him to bench Duren? Let’s take a look:
First, KAT sees a lane on the very first play of the second half where Duren isn’t fast enough to stay in front.
The first possession of the second half starts with a KAT iso on Duren – JD couldn’t get in a defensive stance quick enough to stay in front of KAT. pic.twitter.com/AIF3eP9aL7
— Robbie Bettelon (@BobbyBuckets313) November 2, 2024
We follow that up with the first offensive possession for the Pistons and it looks like he forgot what the play was.
The Pistons first possession on offense and Duren is lost – THJ has to point him in the right direction and Cade is lost in no man’s land since Duren didn’t roll like he was supposed to pic.twitter.com/5FWRmat5wJ
— Robbie Bettelon (@BobbyBuckets313) November 2, 2024
This is now the third consecutive possession in the second half and things are getting worse. THIS was the play that made JBB sub in Isaiah Stewart – you can see Stew’s head turn at the end as he gets word it’s time to play.
Right after giving up a layup to KAT, Duren follows up the next defensive possession by leaving KAT wide open at the three-point line pic.twitter.com/vh9392hfzh
— Robbie Bettelon (@BobbyBuckets313) November 2, 2024
Here Duren stays out on Brunson. Ivey needs to get back to his man faster to allow Duren to recover because Cade ends up stuck between two open guys in Hart and KAT. I’m not sure what pick-and-roll coverage JBB wanted them in, but there seems like there’s not enough communication happening on the court between these three guys – this is way too easy of an open look for an NBA defense to be giving up.
You can see at the end of the above clip that JBB calls on Stewart to sub in just one minute in the third quarter – here he is waiting to check-in
There’s clear miscommunication on this next clip between JD, Cade, and Ivey – Cade left stuck between KAT and Hart pic.twitter.com/KRI5qpiCSa
— Robbie Bettelon (@BobbyBuckets313) November 2, 2024
There was no whistle to stop the game to get Stew in, so JBB eventually calls a timeout after this possession where Ivey gives up another backdoor cut to Brunson. This time Duren is so on top of KAT at the top of the key that there’s zero rim protection in the lane – and that’s the beauty of having a stretch five on offense!
JBB eventually has to call a timeout to get Stewart in the game as Ivey gets beaten backdoor – JI gave up a couple Brunson layups like this throughout the game pic.twitter.com/0TKAAtMBn3
— Robbie Bettelon (@BobbyBuckets313) November 2, 2024
Yes, it’s only been six games. Yes, it’s going to take time for them to learn new defensive schemes. But at what point do we take the two (or three) year sample size of Duren’s defense and decide he may never figure it out on the defensive end?
Hot take:
It just wasn’t a good game for Duren last night – his last two games have been rough on both sides of the ball. Here’s to hoping he figures it out, but at some point I’m not sure you can keep Stew out of the starting lineup for much longer.
— Robbie Bettelon (@BobbyBuckets313) November 2, 2024