Last season, the Detroit Pistons The Cardinals were one of the worst three-point shooting teams in the NBA. In his first offseason as president of basketball operations, Trajan Langdon quickly went to work to fix that problem.
While Langdon drafted a non-shooting prospect in Ron Holland, he added shooters to the Pistons roster via trades and free agency. First, he acquired Tim Hardaway Jr. from the Dallas Mavericks. Langdon then followed that up by signing veterans Tobias Harris and Malik Beasley. On top of that, Detroit was also able to retain Simone Fontecchio, who played well for a short time after the trade deadline.
Once the dust has settled from the offseason, the staff of Bleacher Report gather reactions from every NBA team. Analyzing the Pistons, they said Detroit will be one of the top ten three-point shooting teams in 2025.
I’m not going to let that discourage me. Head coach J.B. Bickerstaff has just seen the value in increasing the overall volume of outside passes during his time in Cleveland, and the mere presence of more useful veterans increases the offensive skill factor. And remember, this isn’t about the Pistons hitting their three-pointers. This is about making long-range shooting a bigger part of their offense.
Given that the Pistons’ roster is stacked with non-shooters, they’re going to need their complementary pieces to get the ball in the air at a high volume. That will open up the court considerably, creating more lanes for guys like Cade Cunningham and Jaden Ivey to attack.
Becoming a top three-point shooting team would be a drastic change for the Pistons, but it’s not out of the question. After his trade to the Pistons, Fontecchio shot 42.6 percent from three-point range on more than six attempts per game. Beasley was also a high-level shooter for the Milwaukee Bucks, attempting seven three-pointers per game and converting 41.3 percent of them.
If this duo can maintain this level of production, with help from guys like THJ and Harris, Detroit could add a new dynamic to its offense in 2025.
