The Detroit Pistons should have a competitive battle in the backcourt for the No. 2 point guard spot between Daniss Jenkins and Ebuka Okorie this season
With a few weeks to go until the Detroit Pistons training camp officially opens up, most of the team has stayed busy during the offseason by scheduling summertime workouts of their own. To that effect, All-NBA point guard Cade Cunningham was the genesis for a players-led mini-camp out in San Diego recently, and that type of offseason bonding is exactly what a team filled with new role players needs.
During the summer, Pistons President of Basketball Operations Trajan Langdon made a series of deals to bring sharp-shooting veterans Isaiah Joe, John Collins, Taurean Prince and Gary Harris to the Motor City in order to give Cunningham some more shooters stacked at the perimeter for the 2026-27 campaign. On top of that, Detroit picked up point guard Ebuka Okorie and center Ugonna Onyenso in the draft along with Elijah Harkless in free agency, so there are a lot of players for Cunningham and his cohorts to build chemistry with early on.
As for the former Stanford Cardinal, Okorie was highly touted coming into the draft for his ability to self-create after leading the ACC in scoring as a freshman. Okorie kept that productive pace in the Summer League with a nearly 20-point per game output for Detroit, and the first-round pick is looking to pick up a few elements from Donovan Mitchell before his rookie season begins.
In terms of finding his own shot, Mitchell is one of the more accomplished isolation scorers in the NBA, so it’s good for Okorie to square off against such a refined playmaker. This season, Okorie is expected to compete with Daniss Jenkins for back-up point guard minutes in the Motor City this, so the 6-2 rookie is already working to prepare for that early-season position battle by training with the seven-time All-Star.
As for Jenkins, the Pistons benefited immensely from his emergence as a competent playmaker who can initiate offense in half-court sets without Cunningham on the floor, but his game is still a work in progress. Last year, Jenkins finished dead last in the NBA in terms of field goal percentage on drives (minimum 200 attempts) at 38.5% during the regular season, so there are clear areas of growth for the former two-way standout. Tiv
But in preparation for his second season with the Pistons, Jenkins has committed himself to becoming a better finisher around the rim, which was an area where he struggled in the postseason as well. With some tutelage from skills coach Jeremie Hart all throughout the summer, Jenkins has drilled a number of crafty finishes around the rim that could serve as solutions to the problems he faced in the paint.
Now, part of Jenkins’ low field goal percentage on drives is partly due to the nature of the shots that he took. Jenkins is an aggressive player with the ball in his hands, so there were a number of instances where he’d take off with a full head of steam before confirming how he was about to finish at the rim. Sometimes that resulted in a thunderous dunk in the lane, but other times Jenkins was denied at the hole. So, the Pistons point guard should have a few more weapons in his arsenal regarding finishing through traffic when he takes the court at Little Caesars Arena this season.
As a whole, Jenkins converted just over 40% of his attempts from the field, so that rate was not too far off his rim-finishing percentage. However, Jenkins is quite unique in the sense that his long-range efficiency is right in that same ballpark at 37.4% from downtown, which is more than respectable. But with another year of experience under his belt, Jenkins looks to return as a more selective shooter now that he’s had a full offseason to prep for another year of Detroit basketball.
