Detroit Pistons: Don’t Worry About Isaiah Joe’s Slow Start Just Yet

So far, the Detroit Pistons have battled through two substantial preseason comebacks that both went down to the wire, winning the first against the Phoenix Suns and losing the second versus the Washington Wizards in overtime last Saturday. 

With those opposing yet similar results in the books, the Pistons are beginning to find a sense of what’s working early on and what still needs either more practice or slight adjustments. Several new additions from the offseason are still getting used to their new Detroit teammates, so it would be logical to expect a bedding in period for the Pistons this season. 

When focusing on the backcourt, Isaiah Joe and Ebuka Okorie are the two main names that should fight for roles in the rotation this season, though they’ve had two very different preseason campaigns thus far. Joe, who’s a six-year NBA veteran with a reputation as a peerless three-point shooter, has started his Pistons tenure in a shooting slump, going just 4-for-19 from the field in his two appearances. Okorie, on the other hand, is a rookie point guard out of Stanford with a knack for darting into the paint who sealed Detroit’s last-second victory in the preseason opener. 

Okorie is competing with Daniss Jenkins for minutes at the one behind Cade Cunningham, while Joe fits more in the Duncan Robinson mold as a reliable perimeter shooter with significant gravity who can draw the defense outward to unclog the lane. That’s where Joe has been the most dangerous throughout his NBA career thus far with four consecutive seasons across the 40% threshold from behind the arc, so his slow shooting start shouldn’t ring any alarms just yet. 

From a stylistic standpoint, if Joe can draw the defense’s eyes away from Cunningham once the regular season kicks off, then he’s doing half of his job with that alone— though he’ll be expected to knock down triples anyway. 

“Obviously he requires so much attention from the defense, and so the more space we can give him, the more shooters we can have around him, it’ll make it a lot easier for him,” Joe said of Cunningham. “Then we can kind of spread out the floor and break down defenses that way.”

Working on the Thunder squad before arriving in the Motor City, Joe averaged 11 points per game in just over 21 minutes each night while remaining a 42% shooter from downtown with an 89% mark from the charity stripe. So, Joe has proven that his shooting stroke will stabilize in due time even if his introduction has been less than smooth. 

In Joe’s defense, the new perimeter threat was playing without Cunningham when the team traveled to the nation’s capital to face the Wizards over the weekend. Up until now, Jalen Duren still hasn’t logged a single preseason minute for the Pistons after inking his five-year deal, so the team is still in flux to a certain extent. 

But once the regular season arrives, look for Joe to pepper the basket with three-pointers all game long since that’s far and away his most common offensive action after unleashing six triples per game last season with the Thunder.