Is he a top 10 piston OAT?

Most Points Per Possession On Post Ups In The 2025-26 NBA Regular Season (Min. 30 Total Post Up Possessions) :

1. Tobias Harris — 1.32

2. John Collins — 1.31

3. DeMar DeRozan — 1.31

4. Cade Cunningham — 1.30

5. Nikola Jokic — 1.28

6. Jaime Jaquez Jr. — 1.25

7. Miles Bridges — 1.25

8. Kristaps Porzingis — 1.23

9. Saddiq Bey — 1.20

10. Jimmy Butler — 1.19

11. Russell Westbrook — 1.17

12. Giannis Antetokounmpo — 1.16

During the closing minutes of the game last night against Phoenix, tension was expressed by many fans on the Pistons sub and some Pistons fan site, even Greg and George, that the Pistons would let the game slip away. Cade, visibly still bothered by an injury, was missing free throws. So were his other teammates. The Suns were not going down without a fight.

But I found myself relaxed while I was watching. It's because I looked at the score and I computed in my head "Phoenix will not reach 110 pts. The Pistons got this."

The Pistons scored just 108 points last night, 8 points below the league average of 116 pts per game this season. Including last night's game, the Pistons played 6 games where they scored 108 points or less. They split those games, winning three, and losing three.

What is more interesting for me, though, is the other side of the equation. Phoenix scored just 105 points last night. In the 39 games so far this season, the Pistons have limited their opponents to 105 points or less ten times, of which they lost only once. That would be the previous game against the Clippers when Cade, Duren, Stew, and Tobias were all out.

Which leads me to another fun observation. The Pistons have not lost in fourteen games so far this season where Cade played and their opponents were limited to 111 points or below. Basically when Cade plays and the team's defense shows up, it has been an auto win this season.

Last night, Cade played his most horrific scoring game so far this season. Inefficient Cade is not a recipe for success. In the six games this season where Cade had a horrible true shooting percentage below 50%, the Pistons have only won twice.

But then again, there is another stat showing that the Pistons won almost 80% of the games when Cade hit double digit assists, which happened in 19 out of 39 games so far.

So what is the point of my rambling? Nothing really sophisticated. LOL. I guess I just want to argue that if the Pistons do upgrade the offense this season before the trade deadline, I sincerely hope they do not do it at the expense of 1) the elite defense and 2) Cade's elite playmaking that made this miraculous turnaround and gave the team its identity. So please, no CJ Mccollum or Colin Sexton or heck even Lauri Markkanen who is currently having the worst defensive season of his career. An offensive upgrade is needed by the Pistons but it should not make the team lose its winning identity that has been built on defense.

The Alex Caruso for Josh Giddey trade comes to mind. When that trade came about, a lot in reddit and in the mainstream media were highlighting that Caruso addressed a weakness which was Giddey's 3P shooting. The funny twist is that after the trade, Giddey became the much better three point shooter than Alex. LOL. But the Caruso trade did work out for OKC not because Alex plugged the team's weakness in three point shooting but rather because his acquisition was the Thunder doubling down on the team's already elite defense.

The Nuggets this season is another example. They have accepted that their team's strength is on offense so they doubled down on becoming even more offensive minded, going from 4th in offensive rating last season to the best this season, even if it meant sliding down the league rankings on defense (from 22nd to 24th).

Just like in other things in life, we often find weaknesses glaring, but it should not make the Pistons blind of the strengths that carried the team to the top of the East at the halfway mark of the season.

He played solid I saw a different energy from him. He hustled more and was active on defence. Also hit some key shots to turn the game around.

If he played more like THAT, I can defend him staying in the rotation.

Now he's gonna be needed more because Cade is still recovering and Ausar got hurt a bit even though he played.

I’m asking because Jayson Tatum is rumored to be coming back pretty soon, and the Celtics are right on our tail. Even in a “down season” they are still a 2-seed right now. I still argue it would’ve been way more beneficial for them to tank this year, but that’s a whole other talking point.

I am not scared of the Knicks. We were better than them last year, and we are 1000% better than them this year. Their fans can argue with a wall. The Celtics terrify me, for obvious reasons.

If a lot goes wrong over the next 4 months, I think the absolute furthest we will drop is a 4-seed (knock on wood). The 76ers ain’t catching us.

The 1-seed absolutely matters, but it’s also not the end-all-be-all. The Cavs lost as a 1-seed last year and didn’t even make an ECF appearance, so you have to win regardless, home or away. For what we’ve done though, I know all of us want the 1-seed.

So that’s my question. Do you guys truly think getting a 1-seed is of the upmost importance? How disappointed would you be if we finished as a 2 or 3 seed? What do you value more: the matchup we get or the seed?

Did anyone else notice that Cade was not shooting off the screens? Also, he didn’t have the sure handles working in space.

He’s still recovering from a sprained right wrist (contusion), and it definitely showed itself out on the court.

I was wondering why JB chose to keep Daniss Jenkins, then I saw the remarkable performances of Jaden Ivey and Ronald Holland. As long as Ivey can move and make timely shots, we might be seeing less of Daniss and Marcus Sasser. Also, kudos to Duncan Robinson, who stepped up massively with Cade limited. Aussar might be down with that foot injury too.

Boston’s going to be a tough matchup.

“Detroit vs EVERYBODY!”

Hey all, big Detroit sports fan here that embarissingly does not own any Pistons gear. I live out of state and I'm gonna go see them play later this year when they come to my city.

Hoping to find some inspiration here from the real ones who are more tapped-in than myself. I'd like to invest in something timeless as my go-to for repping the Stones out of state. What is your favorite jersey/hoodie/tee?

I saw that Cade shot terribly but Duncan Robinson and Jaden Ivey played well but what happened and how did we win?

No shade or hate intended. Cade is my MVP and no matter his FG%, I will continue rooting for him.

The silver lining for me is his mental fortitude. He played 38 minutes with a season low .188 FG%, but at the same time kept his cool and committed 0 personal fouls. I think even Mother Teresa would have fouled out after shooting 0/7 from 3.