Embed from Getty Images Here we stand, a little more than two disastrous months , and Detroit Pistons head coach Dwane Casey has turned the Pistons into a playoff contender. The Pistons bottomed out at seven games below .500 in early February. Even as losses piled up there were signs that the team’s offense was beginning to turn the corner.
The once left for dead, the Pistons are two games over .500 now and in possession of the East’s No. 6 seed. Making it a real possibility Detroit makes the playoffs for just the second time in the past 10 seasons.
Last season Dwane Casey won NBA coach of the year with the Toronto Raptors. While Casey likely will not repeat that honor this season. Detroit Pistons fans can see exactly why he is a very good head coach. Casey’s positivity has been huge too.
The Pistons shot 33.1% from the 3-point line in their first 50 games, last in the NBA. They’ve shot 39.2% in their last 20 games, first in the league. With the team getting more production than just Blake Griffin.
What has happened to spur the Detroit Pistons turnaround? Look no further than the Pistons the bench. Starting the season this unit was awful to put it kindly. The first 50 games of the season Detroit was -1.2 plus/minus, averaging 33.3 points per-game.
Now Detroit are at 0.7 plus/minus, while averaging 40.6 points per-game. Due to the fact that Dwane Casey has been far less rigid than his predecessor, Stan Van Gundy. Casey rides hot players and tinkers with his rotation.
Through it all, Casey has brought this bunch of Detroit Pistons back into the thick of the playoff picture. A far more difficult task than the one he had last season in Toronto.
