The Pistons are one player away from being really interesting, but as things stand now, their bench is gagging up leads almost every night. Stan Van Gundy has been diligent about keeping one starter on the floor at all times — often Marcus Morris — but even that hasn’t been enough to prop up this group.
The backup point guard position has been especially troublesome; teams are outscoring Detroit by 17 points per 100 possessions — not a typo — when Reggie Jackson sits, per NBA.com research. Van Gundy promoted Spencer Dinwiddie over Steve Blake last week, but the team’s all-bench lineup with Dinwiddie at the helm has been a disaster so far.