Detroit Pistons: How Ausar Thompson Can Fix His Mid-Air Decisions With Steve Scalzi’s Advice

Moving into year four of his pro career, Detroit Pistons wing Ausar Thompson is still looking to develop his offensive game so that it’s up to par with his defensive ability. Now, that sounds like a tough task after Thompson made the All-Defensive First Team last season, but it works to represent the gulf in impact between Ausar’s offense and defense. 

As a playmaker, Thompson has the vision and deft skill required to set up his teammates, but the Overtime Elite product still hasn’t developed an outside shot while in the Motor City. From the perimeter, Thompson knocked down just 25% of his three-point attempts last season, which effectively stripped Thompson of any perimeter gravity and hurt the Pistons’ floor spacing. 

In the half-court, Thompson operated primarily from the corner or on the wing, so he had access to back door cuts and other plays that are more conducive to athletic slashers. As a result, Thompson was most threatening when driving to the bucket, but that led to a repetitive problem of mid-air indecision from the defensive ace. 

Although Thompson is agile and speedy enough to jump towards the rim with a head of steam, he frequently fumbled high-percentage looks with a touch of clumsiness in the paint when the defense collapsed. At times, Thompson looked as if he’d taken flight without having a firm plan of where to distribute the ball, and that scenario manifested a couple times per game for the Pistons last year. 

As a result, the Pistons have been working through the summer to find ways to combat that outcome. Motor City Cruise head coach Steve Scalzi, who also coached Detroit during the Summer League, frequently finds himself scheming up solutions to on-court problems that the Pistons run into, and he’s put some time into this play type as well. 

”The clearest example to me is a slot drive where you go airborne so maybe you’re by your guy and there’s a low man who helps, so it creates the two-on-one on the weak side and you go airborne to decide whether to throw to the corner or the other high slot,” Scalzi said on The Basketball Podcast. “I feel like in that decision you’re literally airborne, your eyes are on the rim, you might be decoying the defense by peeking at one side and throwing to the other. I feel like that’s something we should drill over and over, whether it’s scripted and say do this or it’s read this, I think that’s something that shows up in the game an awful lot nowadays.”

When reviewing the data, Thompson posted a 32.8% field goal rate from the 5-9 foot zone, which is where a lot of his mid-air judgment calls took place. Now that the Pistons have more perimeter shooters after an offseason full of trading for snipers, perhaps Thompson will have a workable outlet when he finds himself entering trouble from the painted airspace. 

Thompson travels with such quickness that the planning aspect of his decision making often takes a backseat to the pure speed at which he’s moving. But Scalzi takes pride in breaking down plays at the micro level to figure out exactly where an action went wrong, so Thompson should have a couple more tricks to deploy when he takes flight near the lane this season. And if Thompson develops as a quality secondary playmaker, then the Pistons could have a shot at the top seed in the Eastern Conference for the second consecutive year.