Detroit Pistons Need To Focus On Bench Production In 2015-16 Stretch Run

The Detroit Pistons haven’t risen back to being a perennial championship contender, but the team is in a good position to possibly make the playoffs this season. They have a 34-33 record and sit ninth in the Eastern Conference. And although they are ninth, they are only 1.5 games behind the seventh-best team in the conference (Indiana Pacers).

The Pistons have begun to find a new identity under the coaching of Stan Van Gundy. Van Gundy has made several small trades that have steadily moved the Pistons in the right direction. He has also been able to produce quality wins like a victory this season against the Golden State Warriors. But the team is still lacking in something and that something is bench production.

A starting lineup of Reggie Jackson, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Tobias Harris, Marcus Morris and Andre Drummond is one of the best in the league. If all the starters scored their averages each game, the Pistons would produce 80 or 81 points just from the starting lineup. Any starting lineup that can average that much should be in the playoffs and be a top team. Unfortunately, the bench doesn’t generate points consistently.

Stanley Johnson is the one of the best players the Pistons are bringing off the bench, but he is only averaging 8.6 points per game. Unless a team has two stars, that team needs to have at least one player who is averaging in the double digits. Additionally, Johnson is a rookie so only so much can be expected of him.

The Pistons have guys like Aron Baynes, Steve Blake and Anthony Tolliver coming off the bench. Blake has playoff experience, but he isn’t good enough offensively or defensively to be considered a valuable asset to be bringing off the bench. Baynes looked good with the San Antonio Spurs mainly because the Spurs usually put all of their players in positions to succeed. Tolliver is a journeyman extraordinaire, which aren’t usually the missing pieces to a winning team.

If the Pistons’ starting lineup struggles even a little bit, the team is in for a long night. The best solution would be to move one of their starters (Harris, Caldwell-Pope or Morris) to the bench. This way the starting lineup wouldn’t take too big of a hit and the bench would start producing. Either way, the Pistons better do something fast, because the playoffs are rapidly approaching.