New floor-spacing Pistons shooting guard Malik Beasley has been a critical addition to Detroit’s revamped three-point shooting attack, writes Keith Langlois of Pistons.com.
Last year, Detroit ranked 29th in made triples, 27th in 3-point looks, and 26th in three-point conversion rate. Beasley — along with fellow veterans Tobias Harris and Tim Hardaway Jr. — was brought in expressly to address that this year.
Across 79 contests as the Bucks’ (mostly) starting shooting guard last year, Beasley was an elite, high-volume long range sniper. He averaged 11.3 points on .443/.413/.714 shooting splits, with 6.9 of his 9.1 total field goal attempts arriving from the beyond the arc.
“We’re more talking about the type of [three-point] shots that we’re trying to create and how we’re going to create them,” new head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said of how he plans to approach his fresh optionality from beyond the arc. “Right now, the emphasis is on we want to create as many feet-set, catch-and-shoot threes as we can and then what do we have to do before that to get to those shots. That’s where we’re at right now.”
There’s more out of Detroit:
- Rookie Pistons combo forward Bobi Klintman missed a team practice late last week with a calf contusion, reports Omari Sankofa II of The Detroit Free Press (Twitter link). He is set to miss a few days as a precaution, Sankofa adds. Detroit selected Klintman out of Wake Forest with the No. 37 overall pick this summer.
- When Pistons point guard Cade Cunningham rests, Detroit is looking to share ball handling duties, Sankofa writes in a new article. Without another traditional point guard currently on the team, Bickerstaff is looking to spread the wealth, and build the confidence of his other players as passers. “We may not have guys who are historically initiators, but we’ve got guys that can handle the ball and make plays and use their intelligence,” Bickerstaff said. “You’re going to see, from us, a ton of guys that have the ball in their hands and are making decisions. We may not have a primary ballhandler all the time, but we can split it up and make ourselves a little more difficult to guard.” Combo guards Jaden Ivey and Marcus Sasser may have their drawbacks as point guards, but they are generally speaking the best alternatives to Cunningham rostered.
- In case you missed it, the Pistons are looking to transition veteran big man Isaiah Stewart back to his preferred role of center for most of his minutes. Stewart had spent more time at power forward in recent years.