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 three-pointers, 27th in attempts, and 26th in conversion rate. Beasley — along with fellow veterans Tobias Harris and Tim Hardaway Jr. — was brought in expressly to address that issue 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 per game on .443/.413/.714 shooting splits, with 6.9 of his 9.1 nightly field goal attempts coming 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 ). Klintman will miss a few days as a precaution, Sankofa adds. Detroit selected Klintman out of Wake Forest with the No. 37 overall pick this summer.
- Detroit is looking to share ball-handling duties when starting point guard Cade Cunningham is on the bench, Sankofa writes in a story for The Free Press . 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 and play-makers. “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 ball-handler 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 are among the players who figure to see minutes in that role.
- 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.