The Detroit Pistons Are Hacking The NBA | HHT 65

The Detroit Pistons Are Hacking The NBA | HHT 65

I think that Kate Cunningham is the best pick and roll passer in the NBA. What I think about Kade is just the versatility of all the passes that he has. He can make every single pick and roll pass. When the shooting regresses, sees positive regression. It’s like he’s a lock allstar, but are we talking all NBA? Are we talking first, second team? Like, how high is the ceiling for this guy? The Pistons to me, they are a case study in what happens when you double down on your strengths. You double down in your strengths and you play to the strengths of your roster. And I love that they’re doing that to sort of bring this full circle. All of this encapsulates that like the Pistons know what they’re doing. They know the vision of their own team and everything is sort of driving towards that. [Music] This is Hot Hand Theory. This is a podcast where we talk about the NBA and break things down from an analytical perspective. I’m your co-host XJ. As always, I’m joined by my brilliant co-host, Jeff. And Jeff, we are talking about the Detroit Pistons today. One of the hottest teams in the NBA. I’m so excited to talk about this team. I’ve been looking forward to talking about this team because obviously, you know, for anybody who’s listened to this pod, they know that I’m a big Cade Cunningham guy. I love Cade a lot. One of my favorite players to watch in the league. And we’ll definitely talk about him. Um, and we’ll talk about a couple of other guys that are really, really important to everything that the Pistons are doing. But first, we have to kind of zoom out and look at what they’re doing from a macro perspective, which I think is really cool, innovative, interesting, um, conceptually, philosophically, what they’re doing and their approach, um, given their personnel. And I think it’s I think it’s just a really good conversation. The Pistons to me, and you and I talked a little bit about this before we jumped on, so I know you agree with it, agree with this, they are a case study in what happens when you double down on your strengths. Like you you double down on your strengths and you play to the strengths of your roster. And I love that they’re doing that. Um you could look at their roster, their roster build, and say, “Oh, you know, they have all these weaknesses. They have two quality centers. So, how do you make those two guys work together? They have a wing who can’t shoot, and that’s still one of their best players. How do you make that work? That seems like an extreme weakness or a limitation, but they found a way to make it so that they can make those things a strength rather than a weakness. And if you listen to the show occasionally, you might think XJ loves five shooters. He loves five out. That is true. I do. That’s totally true. But that doesn’t mean I hate anything that’s not five out. And Jeeoff, we’ve had this discussion before where we discussed like um you know, all things equal, is it better to have a 4 plus one, so so four shooters and one non-shooting rim threat or a 3+ one, so three shooters and two non-shooting rim threats. And while obviously, like I said, I would prefer five shooters as long as you know all things are equal there, I’d strongly prefer a three plus one over a four plus a 3 plus two over a 4 plus one. Because a lot of teams do these half measures where they’re like, “Okay, we’re going to, you know, we know spacing is important in the modern NBA and so we’re going to put a shooter on the court because we have to and but but we really don’t have the personnel to really go five out. So, we’re kind of doing this medium mid ground between these two options. Just double down. Just play to who you have. The Pistons said, “Yeah, nah, forget all that. We’re going to play some lineups. Maybe when Tobias Harris is out, we’re going to play a ton of Isaiah Stewart, Jaylen Duran, and Assar Thompson. We’re going to play them all out there together.” Obviously, Isaiah Stewart can shoot, and that’s something that we should talk about as well. But I just think that that’s so great because you get your competitive advantage when your team is playing to its strengths and such that you overwhelm your opponents in one area to the point where they now have to start adjusting to how you play to deal with your strengths as opposed to being able to play to their strengths. And so that’s such a major factor in the Pistons early success. And I think it’s going to hold up because of the level of talent they have, the strength that they have, and the roster construction really, really facilitates it well, and the way that JB has coached them. I think it’s great. So, I’m super excited to talk about the Pistons. Uh, aside from giving that kind of general overview on what they try to do from a philosophical standpoint, where do you want to start with diving into the details on the Detroit Pistons, Jeff? That is where I want to start is that is I mean Pistons fans who are listening to us for the first time are about to find out why we have a show together because I was sure you were going to swing it to me before you did your intro and this is exactly where I was going to start. And this is so exciting because it the Pistons almost by themselves put to bed this silly narrative that the NBA is boring because it’s monotonous. And oh, you have all these teams that just play exactly the same. They’re all just like trying to drive and spray. And I’m not saying that like Kade Cunningham isn’t creating advantages and then trying to find three-point shooters. He is. But the Pistons are awesome in a way that’s totally different than a team like the Knicks or the Cavs in the East. Like they do it their own way. And I thought you I I thought the way you stated it was so perfect. Like this is a front office and a coaching staff that has self-awareness and in lock step is honing in on the strengths of its rosters and trying to leverage those strengths rather than just play like everybody else and be a bad version of other teams. They could be a 4 plus one or even like a fake 5 plus zero if they really wanted to, but they would be one of the worst in the league at that. Why would they do that just because everybody else is doing it? No, they are really, really good at certain things and they’re just doubling down on those things. And I want to get in we we should really get into what we’re talking about when we talk about what their strengths are. Their strengths are defense and their size. And both of those things correlate with one player who we’ll get into here in a second, but I just want to share some data for, you know, I I’m sure there are Pistons fans who are going to come in here and they’re this is going to be intuitive to them, but I want to be able to package it in a way that like you guys would be like, “Yeah, like I I knew this, but 8.3% of the Pistons field goal attempts are putbacks. That’s highest in the league.” And they generate fouls on 23% of those putbacks. Crazy. Absolutely nuts. like they are just dominating the offensive glass. Despite being 19th in overall touches, they’re first in the NBA in paint touches and third in turnover percentage on paint touches and they create the third most free throw attempts off of paint touches. They lead the NBA in blocks. They are just absolutely dominating the paint on both ends of the court. And that’s why if you zoom out and you look 17th in pace, 25th 25th in true shooting percentage, a middle of the road overall offense, you really have to zoom in to understand why this team is great. Third in offensive rebound percentage. Doesn’t matter that they’re not making a lot of threes. They they they retain a lot of their possessions. And as I just alluded to, when they’re in the paint, they’re destroying other teams. They’re fifth in defensive rating. They are a great defense and that’s what they’re leaning into. And unlike a team that we talked about on Monday, the Knicks, we said about the Knicks, they need a great offense and a requisite defense. They need a the just to meet the baseline of a defense to pair with their all-time great offense. The Pistons can do the other thing. They can have an amazing defense and just enough offense to get by. and leaning into things like paint touches, offensive rebounds. It’s helping them have raise the floor of their offense to pair with their great defense. I absolutely love their strategy. I think it’s brilliant the way they’ve leaned into the strengths of their roster, and I love how you put Yeah, I I I love the corresponding data. The only data point I would add, which I think is is is really cool and interesting to to supplement what you were saying, is that the Pistons are top six in uh percentage of the shots that they take coming at the rim. They’re also top three in percentage of the shots they take in the short mid-range. There’s no other team in the top 10 in both. In fact, there’s no other team in the top 15 in both. Like, it’s it’s actually insane. It’s it’s completely insane that they are doing that. Um, and this is this is data per clean the glass. So, I think you can boil down their philosophy to basically let’s get as many of our shots as we can as close to the basket as we possibly can. It seems pretty simple. Um, and it seems like it would make sense because a lot of the highest percentage shots are closer to the basket, but in practice it’s difficult. and the engine that allows them to be able to do that. There’s a couple of guys, obviously the main one being Kate Cunningham because everything on that they do offensively flows through Kate Cunningham screen and roles and his passing and and I really want to talk about Kade, but you know, I I’m sure that you’ll talk a lot about Kade and so I’ll piggyback off of you, but I want to talk about Jaylen Duran because Jaylen Duran uh Jaylen Duran is an absolute monster. He was underrated last season. I think he was an excellent excellent offensive player. Had a huge impact for the Pistons and didn’t necessarily get as much of the accolades and credit as as was necessarily deserved last season. He’s gotten better. There’s just no way around it. He’s gotten better. He’s more impactful. He’s good at so many things that facilitate allowing this to happen. And to me, it’s it Kade is critically important, but Duran is almost just as important. And I think that a lot of, you know, more casual NBA fans wouldn’t necessarily recognize that. What I love about Duran is a few things. One, he’s definitely one of the best screeners in the in the league. Um, he’s so hard to get around and he’s so strong and powerful. So, when he screens, it really affects the defender. And that defender, once you’re on on Cade’s hip trying to get over a screen, now you’re in big trouble. you’re going to always have to bring a third defender involved to deal with a Kade and and Duran um pick and roll and that’s going to put you at a major disadvantage when you have a passer as good as Kade is in that situation. And then the other thing about Duran is that he just aggressively attacks the basket at all times. And you’ll see it’s it’s it’s crazy how Kade and Duran play together. Duran is always always always rolling towards the basket or just running towards the basket. if sometimes he’s the trailer, he’s the trailing big and he’s just running towards the basket and Kade will just feed him and it’s kind of like LeBron in a in a less in a less uh you know dextrous style but just like a more muscular style of just like yeah you’re not going to kind of get in the way of this guy. He’s going to get past you or dunk on you or finish and he’s always attacking the basket. Kad’s always looking for him. And so they just have this flow where Duran is not only powerful, strong, big, can finish with either hand with dunks and layups and also hook shots at times, but he also has some some nimleness. He can dribble a little bit. He can weave in between traffic. He can avoid charges. He can get to the basket. He can do big to big passing, which we saw him do all last season. Especially when I say big to big, I mean one big being Duran, the other big being a Sar Thompson, which is funny to call him a big, but that’s how they play. And when it’s Isaiah Stewart, Isaiah Stewart is often popping and plays more like a wing in in in in some cases if he’s not crashing the boards. So Duran has all of these sort of like skills that you wouldn’t really be expecting from him. And he’s even getting better as a short role decision maker and passer already this season. And so you add all of that together, put Kate and Duran together, and and incorporate that with the philosophy of the Detroit Pistons, it’s not really surprising that they’re having this much success early in the season. Not surprising at all. And you mentioned Duran and how he’s just bulldozing to the rim. So he’s up to 25 points per 75 possessions. same monster efficiency that he had last season, but he’s doubled his free throw rate from last season. Doubled it. And he’s now shooting 86% from the line. Absolute monster. Um all the lineup data, although it’s still, you know, early, it’s still a small sample, supports the fact that like he has been integral to this team success. When dur uh when Jaylen Durn and Kade Cunningham play together, they are tied for the fourth best defense in the NBA and have the second best offense in the NBA in 142 minutes already. That’s not like a guarantee sample size, but that’s pretty big for only playing uh eight games or se eight is it up to nine? Sorry. Um despite playing less than 10% of the season or 10% of the season. Yeah, they’re scoring 122 points per 100 possessions and just allowing 111 points per per 100 possessions. Now you move Cade uh just just just look at Duran. Don’t even tie Cade to him. Those numbers get better, which is crazy. Like Duran has just been so essential to this team for all the reasons that you stated. And you talked about him being underrated last season. He was in the 87th percentile on offensive EPM. His impact was amazing last season and I just think he’s gotten so much better and now he’s anchoring the defense which is the most which is the more important side of the ball for them or the side where they’re winning games more consistently. Um this has been just utterly remarkable by him and the fact that he’s able to play big minutes for this team like he is just absolutely anchoring this team right now. And when you look at like the the foundation of this team, when you try to sum up the things this team is leaning into its biggest strengths, they’re all encapsulated by what Duran’s biggest strengths are. It’s almost like it’s almost like they realize as we transition this conversation to Kade Cunningham that they were like, Cade is so skilled and so good. We don’t need to maximize the space around him. He will be himself in almost any conditions. we can lean into the strengths and not I don’t artificially sounds bad but I what I mean is like elevate Duran’s impact because he needs he needs you to play a specific way to get the max impact from him whereas Cade you can get max impact playing a number of ways now all of a sudden you’re maximizing two your your two most important players at the same time and they’re doing it in different ways so they’re there’s no redundancy they’re like a very very oddly synergistic duo. Yeah, I I speaking of duos, like it’s a very real possibility to me by that by the end of the season, Kate and Duran is pushing pushing Joic and Murray as like the best duo uh guard, big duo in the league. Like I I think that that’s a realistic possibility. Depends on further development, but like they work so well together. Their skill sets work so well together. um like you mentioned, no redundancy at all. It’s it’s it’s really amazing. And um I I have a big I have a big I mean that was a big claim. I have a big claim on Cade. Uh so first I I want to say just like a couple of things about Kade cuz like again one of my favorite players in the league to watch. This guy cannot shoot right now. I mean he’s had a couple games where he he shot well from three and that’s good but that’s going to turn around. Obviously it’s early in the season. He’s missing shots. The fact that he is so impactful while missing shots is insane. And the fact that he is doing it with, of course, with his rim pressure, his ability to get downhill, but this guy is an insane passer. I I don’t think it’s like recognized, especially out of the pick and roll. And my claim, I think that this may be the case. I think that Kate Cunningham is the best pick and roll passer in the NBA. And I think that there’s only a couple of other options really. Like I mean you have Luca Donuch which is the main one that I would say you know that that that’s probably the the the biggest competitor and then you know you have LaMelo to me you have Trey Young but I I really feel like those are the four. I don’t think there’s a I think those are the four that’s the tier and there’s nobody else there. And what I think about Kade is just the versatility of all the passes that he has. He can make every single pick and roll pass so flawlessly. pocket pass, bounce pass, one off of one hand lob pass that he does all the time to Duran and to other guys to Assar as well. And his decision-making is so quick and the passes are so crisp. It’s just like obviously Pistons fans watch Kate all the time, so they know this, but it’s so crisp. It’s not like, oh, you know, he got the ball there. It’s like it’s exactly where it needs to be, exactly on time almost every single time. Guys don’t pass like that. And it’s really amazing watching him put the ball there so consistently. And so yeah, to me that that that’s that’s the biggest thing is that it just works because those guys skill sets just play off of each other so perfectly. Yeah, Kade. I mean, that’s sort of where I want to go with that is that like Cade is one of the few players who uh you could put in this sort of like, hey, we need like we’re leaning into these things that work, but they only work if we have a guy who can raise the floor of the offense by himself. And Kate is like one of the few who would be capable capable of that. And I would argue what’s most encouraging about his start to the season is that all of the areas that he’s showed improvement in are like let lower variance more certain areas to like hold true across smaller sample sizes. And the areas where he struggled mid-range shooting, three-point shooting, these are more volatile areas and more likely to regress to the mean. So you have this guy who has made these improvements that are likely to hold true and then when the shooting regresses, sees positive regression, it’s like he’s a lock allstar, but are we talking all NBA? Are we talking first, second team? Like how high is the ceiling for this guy? He’s still so young. he can defend which like you think about other uh of the point guards in the east who he’s competing with for best uh best lead initiator for a team. Obviously, you know, Hallebertton’s hurt, but Hallebertton would up been up there. Jaylen Brunson, Donovan Mitchell, Kade Cunningham’s by far the best defender of any of those guys. He’s consistently impacting the game on that end of the court. you mix in him him making a little bit of an offensive leap to approach these other guys in in terms of offensive impact. He has a claim he very well could by the end of the season have a claim for the best guard in the East. He could uh that and that’s a great case for it. I think yeah and and like I said to me he’s already the best pick and roll passer of of of them all. So, and especially in the Eastern Conference, like obviously I love Hallebertton as a passer, but as a pick and roll passer, I don’t even think it’s close between he and Hallebert. Hallebertton’s better a passer in other ways. Um, and I just love how everything kind of flows through like they they do so many things. The Pistons run so many things to be able to generate Cade pick and rolls. Like it’s not just like, you know, dribble up Cade run, screen, and roll with Jaylen Duran over and over and over, rinse, wash, repeat. like they do do that, but like there’s tons of actions where you know uh you know they’ll have a shooter in the weak side corner and then they’re using Duncan Robinson in a really cool way and it’s something that you know about how Duncan Robinson has been used in the past in Miami where they just use his his gravitational pull is insane. So you just put him anywhere around the court, you make him move, you’re pulling guys with you everywhere. It disrupts the defense just having him run through it. And so they’ll time his cuts really perfectly, swing the ball to Cade, and then have a pick and roll run with Jaylen Duran that is like flows perfectly with that activity and such that it gets tons of lobs, easy dunks, easy putbacks if if there’s a miss shot for Jaylen Duran all the time or you get Kate just coming downhill and he’ll just finish layup. So, um, and then I really, really love when they have Stewart and Jaylen Duran out there together. They’ll run double screens or or drag screens or they’ll run, uh, double screens where where Stewart will pop out. And by the way, I got to say this, I’m so glad Isaiah Stewart has relearned how to shoot. Like, I I don’t know what happened to him last season. And if you’re a Pistons fan and you have the answer and you know what happened to Isaiah Stewart last season, please put that in the comments below because Isaiah Stewart was, you know, a 22year-old strong two-way rebounder approaching his physical prime who had come off a season where he shot 39% from three on a respectable like 4.5 uh three-point attempts per 75. And I was so high on him. I’m like, this guy’s going to go somewhere and be a starting center and be a stretch five to go with a guy like Giannis and it’s going to be a problem. It’s just going to be a problem. And then suddenly he just stopped shooting. Like not not only did he not make shots, he stopped shooting them. And it was very confusing to me. I’m like, this is a bizarre trajectory to suddenly go backwards and stop shooting. He’s back shooting again and he’s making threes and he’s shooting them at a even higher volume. So, I’m so happy to see him putting it up again because it allows you to run these double big options and not completely crater your spacing. Although spacing is not the most important thing to them because Kate Cunningham can operate in a foam booth and make all the passes off of one dribble and and and and have a low power dribble underneath outstretched hands trying to strip him all the time. And so, he can operate in that space in that paradigm extremely well. And he’s so big and strong that it works for him as well. So, it’s like not even a big disadvantage for Kade to operate in poor spacing environments necessarily, but then you have Isaiah Stewart and you’re like, actually, the spacing environment is not even that bad because he can pop out and he’s a threat, especially if he’s going to be aggressive. So, it allows them to do so much with those double big options. It ex It really enhances Cade strengths, Duran strengths, and Isaiah Stewart as well, because they can both crash the boards, especially on the offensive end. That’s why we see them being a top three offensive rebounding team in the NBA. So, it’s just so cool everything that they’re doing. Yeah, it sort of reminds me of um uh those those mid2010 Cavs teams when when Love and Tristan Thompson would screen for Kyrie or for LeBron and Love would pop and Tristan would dive and you could just I mean they got they got to a point uh by 2017, Kyrie’s last year in Cleveland, where it was robotic for them. like love would pop and Tristan would dive and it was, you know, you had J.R. Smith and another shooter in in each corner and they had four options. It was like Kyrie or LeBron would get a layup. Uh Tristan would get the lob, Kevin Love would pop above like they had every option and they would just figure out which way the defense was making a mistake and they would exploit it. the Pistons can keep building around this core and get to a a point where they’re running uh actions like that. You mentioned Duncan Robinson. He’s averaging a career low in three-point attempts per 75. That’s just going to happen on this team. But the thing is is that what he brings to them is so valuable because it’s like so unique for their team that his gra, as you mentioned, his gravitational pole, he’s just running around. I’m not going to say he doesn’t need to shoot. he needs to shoot when he can because three points is a lot in the NBA. But like it it’s just going to be harder in the NBA when he’s really the only offball threat and he’s running around. Defenses are going to pay attention. But make no mistake, that attention is valuable because it lets the Pistons score more effectively inside the arc. He’s he’s providing impact without touching the ball. That’s so valuable. It’s something we talk about here at Highand Theory all the time. There’s only one ball. You just can’t fill your team with guys who can only help you when the ball is in their hands. You need guys simultaneously be bringing additive impact. That’s something Duncan Robinson does a lot. It’s something Isaiah Stewart does positionally when he’s shooting well. Um, and to sort of close this off with another thing you brought up, I I want to kind of make fun of myself here. When the Pistons drafted Ron Holland, I was like very very very I admonished them very hard. And not because I didn’t think Ron Holland was good or could be good, but it was just like, you already have one of those. Like, we have it at home. Why do we need another one of those? And it never occurred to me that, and props to you, XJ, for sort of opening my eyes to this. It never occurred to me that like once they go down this road, it’s actually just better to have two of them than it is to have one of them because they if they’re on the court together, like they’re this the the the lack of spacing doesn’t hurt you as much as it would in other situations. So, like if Ron Holland was on the Knicks, for example, and he was in all these lineups that could be good spacing lineups, but he was the one non-spacer, his specifically his shooting would be so detrimental to those lineups that he would be unplayable. They’d have to play shooters because that’s how they have to play. His lack of shooting right now is not hurting the Pistons because it’s like they already have non-shooters in other places. So, Ron Holland is allowed to grow. He can still become a fine shooter, but he’s doing it through reps on the court. It’s the best possible situation for a guy like him, for a guy like Assar Thompson to grow in these roles and to not be a detriment or or excuse me, for their biggest weaknesses to not be as detrimental to the team. I think it’s great. I think to sort of uh bring this full circle, all of this encapsulates that like the Pistons know what they’re doing. they know the vision of their own team and everything is sort of driving towards that. That was a great explanation on the Ron Holland thing like and and kind of helping to visualize some of the trade-offs there that happen when you’re playing in a particular style. It’s saying with more shooters on the court and how that’s more damaging to you when you’re than when you’re already playing with fewer shooters on the court. I I I love that that visual and it’s almost to me like it’s like some possessions for the Pistons can look like a Hail Mary in the NFL and it’s just like all the guys are just around the rim and it’s like the ball’s coming and it’s like yeah, one of us is going to get it here. I don’t know. It’s just a bunch of us down here. And if you think about it, if we have Jaylen Duran, Isaiah Stewart, Assar Thompson, and sometimes Ron Holland, it’s like we’re probably going to be the ones to get it, you know? And so, uh, and so that really works out for them. I I want to close out like from from my perspective here just saying I, like I said, I love the Pistons. I think they’re really like close. I think they’re really close. I think they’re one key piece from being like a true real true blue contender in the East. And I think they need, which is, this is hard to say because these guys don’t really exist, but I think they would really benefit from like a Tari E type, a guy who doesn’t change the way that they play, but does still add some of that spacing value because I think Isaiah Stewart does that for his position. And then you have Tari E, one of the few guys in the league who’s who does that for his position. And so you have those like kind of combo spacers, bruisers, and and you add one more in the mix like that and then you can play the the the versatility of lineups that you can throw out there becomes even more even more elaborate and even more hard to deal with and you have even tons of different situations where you can even sometimes it’s in a crazy way go five out and still have one of the best offensive rebounding teams in the league. And so I I think they need a guy like that in terms of the the the quote unquote worst guy that they could get that that could make them a true title contender. But I also still think they’re going to be a problem for anybody to deal with in the Eastern Conference and just not going to be easy for anyone to get past, including the Cavs, including the Knicks, uh including the Magic if they ever get their stuff turned around. So um so yeah, that that’s that’s where I’ll end on the Pistons. You have any last thoughts? I guess I just want to say that you bring up Tar Een as like the potential prototype. I used him as an example of like a non-shooter and how he’s the system is helping him grow. I think Ron Holland can just become Tar East. Like he’s 20. His free throw. It’s still early, but like obviously it’s early with the sample size, but like free throws jump from 75 to 87. 75 is already like that’s not like a busted shot. Like I don’t mean to dump on Assar Thompson, but I think even the the most bullish on Assar Thompson, who’s like he’s an awesome defender, he’s got great instincts. Like the Thompson twins are amazing. They’re an amazing amazing case study in how to be valuable in today’s NBA without being able to shoot as a wing cuz it’s so hard. But like I don’t see a world where he just becomes a knockdown shooter. Maybe he’ll prove me wrong. I see that outcome for Ron Holland. I like his shot for him and he’s 6’8. He’s a bull at the point of attack. Like he can be a great he he can be a great defender. He’s got plenty of time. Um not saying that they wouldn’t be help because the the beautiful thing about these additive players like Tar Een is you can’t have too many of them. So they it wouldn’t hurt to like try to target one of those uh and bring one in. But I think longterm the upside is there for Ron Holland and I’m excited to see him grow. Like we said in this role where he’s going to be allowed to grow and it’s not like JBstaff’s like, “Sorry dude, I can’t play you 15 minutes a game. You’re your shooting right now is just too detrimental.” They don’t really have to worry about that. He can just be out there and get reps and grow and grow more confident as a shooter in in this spot. Um I think if he was going to thrive anywhere, it would be in Detroit in this system. So maybe I’ll end up looking dumb, but I I think he can be that guy. That’s a that’s a very interesting take. I think we both had some interesting takes, but uh I love this breakdown. So Pistons fans, if you’re still listening at this point and this is your first time listening, go ahead and subscribe. We cover teams in depth like this every single week and we watch them deeply. As you can tell, we pour over the data. We pour over the film. And we’d love to have you in our community. Drop a comment. We respond to every single comment that ever appears on this YouTube channel. So, uh, as well as on Spotify and in other places. So, yeah. Uh, appreciate you joining us for this episode. And for Jeff, I’m XJ. And this has been Hotand Theory.

On the 65th episode of Hot Hand Theory, Geoff and XJ break down how Cade Cunningham, Jalen Duren, JB Bickerstaff, and the Detroit Pistons just hacked the NBA—and why their red-hot start isn’t luck; it’s brilliant strategy.

The duo dives into the film and data to show how the Pistons are winning by ignoring modern NBA rules: dominating the paint with two-big lineups, leading the league in offensive rebounding, and turning perceived weaknesses into strengths. While the rest of the NBA chases spacing, Detroit is owning the paint—and it’s working.

We explore why Cade Cunningham is already one of the best pick-and-roll passers in the league, how Jalen Duren has become the perfect offensive engine for this system, and why playing Isaiah Stewart and Duren together is a huge advantage. Then we tackle the bigger question: did the Pistons just prove that doubling down on your strengths beats chasing league trends? The Pistons are 6-2 with wins over four straight opponents, and this isn’t just a hot start; it’s validation of an unconventional philosophy. We break down what it means for Detroit’s identity, why their front office deserves credit for self-awareness, and how Cade and Duren’s synergy could make them the East’s most underrated duo. We also discuss why Ron Holland landed in the perfect developmental system, how Duncan Robinson impacts the game without even shooting, and what the Pistons need to add to become true contenders.

We cover:
🔹 Why the Pistons are winning by ignoring spacing orthodoxy: paint dominance, offensive rebounding, and two-big lineups
🔹 Cade Cunningham’s elite pick-and-roll passing and how he operates in tight spaces
🔹 Jalen Duren as the offensive engine: screening, rolling, putbacks, and short-roll playmaking
🔹 Why playing Duren + Stewart together is a strength, not a compromise
🔹 The Pistons’ philosophy: 3+2 spacing beats half-measure 4+1 lineups
🔹 How Detroit’s roster construction creates the perfect development system for Ron Holland
🔹 What the Pistons need to add to compete with Cleveland, New York, and Boston

💬 Let us know in the comments: Are the Pistons for real? And should they make a move to try to contend NOW?

If you value strategic analysis over hot takes and want NBA breakdown that explains HOW teams win, not just that they won, subscribe and catch every episode.

#Pistons #DetroitPistons #CadeCunningham #JalenDuren #HotHandTheory #NBAPodcast #NBAAnalysis #PistonsBasketball #EasternConference #NBASeason #NBA

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Timestamps:
0:00 | Preview
0:58 | Intro: Detroit’s Unique Strategy
9:17 | Jalen Duren’s Ascendance
15:02 | Are Cade & Duren the Best Duo in the NBA?
17:32 | Why Cade Cunningham’s Ceiling is Limitless
20:02 | How Detroit Leverages Duncan Robinson
20:55 | Isaiah Stewart is Hitting 3s Again!!
22:53 | Comparing the Pistons to the mid-2010s Cavs??
24:50 | Why Ron Holland Fits Perfectly
27:23 | The Player Detroit Needs to Contend Right NOW
30:50 | Please Comment & SUBSCRIBE

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