Since perimeter shooting was a concern for the Detroit Pistons last season, the organization made it a point of emphasis to improve in that area before taking the court this year
By any metric, it would be patently false to say that the Detroit Pistons have sat on their proverbial hands and stood idle during the offseason after being bounced from the Eastern Conference Semifinals in May after putting together a 60-win regular season.
Though the Pistons were revealed to be a somewhat flawed group in totality against the Cleveland Cavaliers, it is inarguable that Detroit made significant strides during the regular season before their letdown in the playoffs. So, in order to prevent a similar flameout in the future, Pistons President of Basketball Operations Trajan Langdon has been busy during the summer revamping the squad with the intentions of building a team that can challenge into late May and early June.
As part of that process, the Pistons opted not to bring Tobias Harris back in free agency and proceeded to trade away Isaiah Stewart, Caris LeVert and Marcus Sasser to various squads over the past month. Harris, Stewart, LeVert and to a lesser extent Sasser all played important roles and had considerable veteran leadership on their side as well, but the Pistons shifted towards a more dangerous group of players from three-point range, which should conceivably improve their No. 17 rank in long-range shots from the 2025-26 campaign.
“We had to add more shooting and playmaking around Cade [Cunningham] and Jalen [Duren],” a Pistons front office exec told Spotrac’s Keith Smith. “John [Collins], Isaiah [Joe], Taurean [Prince] and our rookie, Ebuka Okorie, all fill those needs John has been one of the best shooting big men in the league for a few years now and he rebounds. Isaiah is someone we’ve looked at for a few years but were never in a position to land him. He’s going to have a big year. Taurean has become one of the better shooters in the league too, and he’s got terrific size. Ebuka immediately helps with the extra ballhandling and passing we needed.”
Excluding Okorie from that group since he’s a rookie for the coming season, each of those players eclipsed the 40% mark from three-point range a season ago, so they have proven their ability to serve as dangerous players from distance who can space the floor and create more room to maneuver for Cunningham and Duren.
Okorie, on the other hand, is a strong free throw shooter at 83.2% during his freshman season at Stanford, so he clearly has the ability and mechanics to shoot at a more-than-acceptable level, but his shot diet as a Cardinal did not necessarily lend itself to an overly efficient three-point rate. Since Stanford was so one-dimensional in the sense that Okorie was relied on to drive the team’s offense, he was also given the responsibility to attempt shots late in the clock that otherwise would be taken. As a result, Okorie’s mark from beyond the arc was 35.4% in the ACC, which is not an utterly unacceptable rate but can still be improved upon in the pros.
But based on the statement from Detroit’s front office executive, it is clear that the Pistons set out to strengthen a clear weak spot from last season’s squad, so Langdon is reacting appropriately during the offseason from a balance standpoint thus far. It will be up to Cunningham to hit these players at appropriate times in the half-court to utilize said traits, but the Pistons are giving their All-Star point guard the appropriate tools to serve as a more dynamic offense this season.
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