As preseason nears end, Detroit Pistons remain 'work in progress' with new system

The Detroit Pistons will complete their preseason slate Wednesday.

Their process of defining the type of team they will be under a new regime, however, is still in its early stages.

Head coach J.B. Bickerstaff isn’t viewing Wednesday’s finale against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Little Caesars Arena as a deadline to finalize the various aspects of coaching a team — lineups and rotations, schemes on both ends of the floor and roles for individual players.

Rather, the organization is treating its first year under Bickerstaff and president of basketball operations Trajan Langdon as a year-long evaluation. The coaching staff is taking a patient approach as it determines how to organize the roster.

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They’ve played four preseason games (going 2-2 overall) with four different starting lineups, and Bickerstaff will likely make lineup adjustments through the regular season as well, as he adjusts to a new roster and players adjust to a new coach and system.

“We will be a work in progress all season long, and that’s our mentality going into this year,” Bickerstaff said. “We will not be a finished product and we don’t expect to be. This is something where we’re looking at the big picture, but our aim is to continue to get better until we feel like we’re that complete team that can compete at the level that we’re all looking to.

“We’ve got our foundation in. I think our guys have a clear understanding of who we are, what our plan is, what we’re trying to do. But basketball reality says you have to go around the league one time. You have to see how every team you play operates offensively versus your system defensively. Same thing offensively — how do they guard your stuff? And then it becomes second nature to us, when we continue to work at it.”

Three players have started all four games so far — Cade Cunningham, Jaden Ivey and Jalen Duren. Simone Fontecchio started the first and second games, then was replaced by Tobias Harris once he recovered from an illness. The remaining fifth spot has been split between veteran offseason acquisitions Malik Beasley and Tim Hardaway Jr.

Bickerstaff cautioned against reading too far into the lineups, noting that Harris’ absence forced an adjustment to their plan. Still, it would be a surprise to not see Cunningham or Harris start on opening night.

“With Tobias missing a couple of games, it changed what we wanted to do and the matchups that we wanted to be able to see,” he said. ”We got stuck in that because we were trying to fill that void. When I say this, I apologize for repeating, but it’s not just about the first unit. The first unit may end up being your finishing unit, but we’ve gotta find what balances our second unit as well. All those things come to mind and that’s what we’re trying to find the best version of."

Ivey has been among the team’s best performers , and Duren has continued to thrive as a rebounder and lob threat with good moments on defense. However, the team hasn’t been as effective when Cunningham sits. They gave up a 17-2 run first-quarter to the Golden State Warriors on Sunday after Cunningham exited with less than five minutes left in the period.

The Pistons’ offense looked more lively last Friday against the Phoenix Suns , when Harris made his preseason debut and scored 22 points on 8-for-13 shooting. Along with Ivey, who is leading the team with 18.3 points a game on 60.5% overall shooting and a 52.9% clip from 3, they appear to have three players who can competently shoulder the offensive load.

“He just knows how to play and he knows what a game needs and he knows how he can impact the game,” Bickerstaff said of Harris. “After him being out, it’s one of those things where you want him to catch a rhythm. He came out aggressive and I think he caught that rhythm. And that changes the level of the confidence of the guys around him. That’s going to be great for us to have throughout this season where all the pressure isn’t on one guy or our young guys, and he can relieve them of that pressure and then the guys come with him.”

The challenge for the coaching staff is figuring out how to maintain the energy the Pistons showed during Friday’s 109-91 win over the Suns, in which they knocked down shots with consistency and took care of the ball.

Despite investing in outside shooting this offseason, they’ve struggled to knock down 3-pointers. Beasley (27.3% from 3) and Hardaway (6.3%) have been uncharacteristically bad, which could change once the regular season tips off at home Oct. 23.

Playmaking has also been inconsistent, with Cunningham shouldering much of the load. There are preseason issues that Bickerstaff intends to solve, once the team has played enough basketball to establish what’s real and what needs to improve.

And then there's the defensive end. The Pistons looked competent against the Suns on Friday and the Milwaukee Bucks on Oct. 6. Phoenix dismantled their defense in East Lansing last Tuesday, and the Warriors couldn't miss from 3 on Sunday.

They know what identity they want to have on the floor — tough defensively and efficient on offense with a team-wide approach to sharing the ball. Actually establishing that identity will take time, particularly after the season they're coming off of.

“Opportunity and experiences, right?” Bickerstaff said. “You can watch as much film on a team and see what the past has produced. But until you have them in your system, until they get the opportunity, you can’t make those judgments. We’re still in the process of making those judgments.”

Contact Omari Sankofa II at osankofa@freepress.com. Follow him @omarisankofa.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: As preseason nears end, Detroit Pistons remain 'work in progress' with new system