Pistons coach Monty Williams had a joking assessment of coaching Bulls forward Torrey Craig when asked what impressed him during their time together in Phoenix last season.
“Nothing at all,” Williams said jokingly. “I’m so glad I’m away from him.”
But when Williams did answer the question, it was insightful into how the Pistons play today. Detroit is in the top ten in the NBA in offensive and defensive rebounding percentage. The Pistons’ crashing-the-glass philosophy is partly due to Craig’s pursuit on that end.
“He’s one of the guys that convinced me about the offensive rebounding from the wing spot,” Williams said. “He was such a good crasher and as he got more consistent with shooting the ball and playing point five [basketball], he just became a guy that I fell in love with.”
Craig’s work ethic, versatility and attitude — qualities that made him attractive to the Bulls — are what Williams spoke glowingly about him.
“He’s just an everyday guy and has a great attitude,” Williams said. “You could coach him; you could talk to him about other stuff outside of basketball. He just became one of my favorite players.
“You can play him at any wing spot and you can play a number of defenses with him, whether it’s switching, zone or man coverages.”
Injury updates
Bulls coach Billy Donovan said guard Alex Caruso will be a game-time decision with a left-toe injury he injured at practice before being ruled out. Caruso hasn’t done much activity before today’s game.
“He just wants to see how he feels out there,” Donovan said, “he didn’t do anything yesterday in practice, and we didn’t have shootaround because we did the preparation yesterday.”
Bulls guard Dalen Terry only played nine minutes for the Windy City Bulls on Saturday. and was inactive against the Pistons. Donovan didn’t have much to add other than it was due to left patella tendonitis.
Rebounding woes
Pistons center Jalen Duren — who dominated the Bulls with 23 points and 15 rebounds — is out with right ankle soreness. In the first meeting between the two teams, the Pistons outrebounded the Bulls 53-33.
Rebounding has been an issue for the Bulls all season: Chicago is 28th in the NBA in rebounding percentage, last in defensive rebounds (29.8) and 14th in offensive rebounds (11.1). It also doesn’t help the Bulls because some of their best lineups include playing Caruso — a six-foot-five guard — at power forward.
“I think it needs to be a lot better,” Donovan said on the Bulls’ rebounding. “We’ve gotten hurt quite honestly in some rotational stuff where Vuc [Nikola Vucevic] has had to come, or Drum [Andre Drummond] had to come to protect the rim, and then we need kind of a sink and fill in the backside.
“When threes go up, we’ve got to get out of the habit of running towards the basket, because most of those shots are going to be kicked out a little bit higher, and those little ones that go over your head are the ones they get extra possessions on.”
The Pistons attack the glass with their centers and guards, so each member of the Bulls lineup must be attentive once a shot goes up.
Second-chance points will be imperative in this matchup. Despite Duren’s absence, the Pistons still have guard Ausar Thompson, forward Marvin Bagley III and center James Wiseman for size.
“The rebounding really hurt us,” Donovan said. “They [the Pistons] got back over 40% of their misses – that certainly was a big part of it in the second half, where our first-shot defense was pretty good. But we really gave up a lot of second-chance opportunities. … They’re an elite rebounding team. And they’ll play big, and they’re athletic, and they’re long. We’re going to have to be able to match that physicality.”