Brandon Jennings says his Pistons don't shoot straight because 'we don’t shoot in practice'

For more than a few of us, the addition of Stan Van Gundy to the bench of the Detroit Pistons was supposed to serve as a panacea – and that’s an understandable expectation in the face of the return of a very good coach. Van Gundy is charged with both cleaning up the messes of the previous front office and the team’s former coaches (he’s the team’s tenth since 2001!), but because his basketball brain is so big plenty pegged the Pistons as an Eastern Conference playoff possibility.

The squad has lost ten of its first 13 games so far this season, however, and it currently boasts the league’s fourth-worst offense. The Pistons are just as miserable to watch under SVG as they were to watch under Maurice Cheeks, or Lawrence Frank, or John Kuester. The team is second to last in two-point field goal percentage, second to last in overall field goal percentage, and second to last in free throw percentage.

They can’t shoot. We knew this heading into 2014-15, but we didn’t think it would be this bad. Point guard Brandon Jennings thinks he knows why, exactly, the Pistons keep peeling paint.

They’re not shooting in practice, while Van Gundy concerns himself with that pesky whole other side of the court. From David Mayo at MLive.com:

Weirdly, for those that are familiar with Jennings’ style of play, he’s actually speaking from a position of strength here.

Jennings’ backup, D.J. Augustin, is shooting just 35 percent from the field. Josh Smith is shooting 37 percent, and “shooting” guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is shooting 35 percent from the floor. Thirty percent of center Andre Drummond’s shots are coming from three to ten feet, and he’s shooting just 21 percent from that area – contributing to his terrible 39.7 percent mark overall.

Jennings? The career 39 percent shooter is on pace to set a career mark by shooting 43.8 percent from the floor. Of course, he’s missed 16 of his last 25 looks from the field.

The orthodox line of NBA thinking spits out that while muscle memory for shooters is important, the summer is the time to work on that aspect of the game. Coaches don’t have much time to prepare for opposing teams as they try to squeeze in 82 games against 29 other offenses, so most practices (if there are time for any) and shootarounds are spent detailing defensive instruction and the other team’s scouting reports.

The Pistons stink on ice this season, but Van Gundy has helped raise the team’s defensive rating from a putrid 25th overall to a passable 13th in 2014-15. It may not have translated toward winning, but the team’s play has shot up on that end. The offense has faltered, from 19th to 27th this season, but there has at least been some improvement.

An overriding issue here is Stan Van Gundy’s appreciation for the players he inherited. He’s obviously making Andre Drummond an offensive focus, thinking pound-wise over the long term while attempting to round off his post game into something amongst the ranks of the workable. Van Gundy no doubt wanted to make the playoffs this season, something that is still within the realm of the possible, but he also probably knows he’s dealing with salted soil here.

Would more attention paid to same-day shootarounds, and the myriad flat-footed perimeter shots these guys launch while in sweats, make a difference? It’s hard to say. Not to come off like your gym teacher, but that arena is open hours prior to tip-off if you want to show up early – Ray Allen-style – and work yourself into a tizzy from 20 feet. Blaming a lack of practice time spent focused on shooting is absolutely ridiculous.

Jennings is frustrated, though, and that’s understandable. We all thought things would be different at this point.

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Kelly Dwyer

is an editor for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at KDonhoops@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KDonhoops