Pistons' Jennings on team's shooting woes: 'We don't shoot in practice'

The Detroit Pistons have the NBA's 28th ranked offense and their Effective Field Goal Percentage of 45.6 ranks 29th. Though, point guard Brandon Jennings thinks he knows what's ailing the team's attack.

"If you ask the question about why we're not making shots, we don't shoot," Jennings said following Friday's loss to the Atlanta Hawks, as reported by Mlive.com's David Mayo.

"We don't shoot in practice. We haven't really had a chance to work on our games or anything," Jennings added. "When we do have shootarounds, we're not able to get up shots like we should."

Jennings - who said it's the responsibility of both the players and coaches to make sure the team gets their shooting reps in - wasn't done there.

"I just think if you're going to have shootaround in the morning, I think it's good that you get loose and you should work on shots that you're going to take in the game," the Pistons' starter said. "Even before, after practice, we've got to start getting in the gym, just working on our game more."

For his part, Jennings is actually shooting the ball better than he ever has so far this season. The 25-year-old is hitting threes at a 39 percent clip and boasts a solid Effective Field Goal percentage of 51.9.

Unfortunately, fellow starters Andre Drummond, Josh Smith and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope are all shooting less than 40 percent from the field, while the three-bigs lineup of Drummond, Smith and Greg Monroe has been awful for the team's offensive spacing.

Smith has a reputation as a poor shooter with an incredibly undisciplined shot selection, while Caldwell-Pope has been a poor shooter throughout his brief NBA career. The real concern is Drummond, who went from shooting over 61 percent through his first two seasons to 39.7 percent through 13 games this season, as new coach Stan Van Gundy attempts to develop the young big man's offensive game.

The addition of Jodie Meeks, a career 37 percent 3-point shooter currently out with a back injury, should help a bit. But the bottom line is that unless Smith suddenly becomes a smarter offensive player, Caldwell-Pope becomes a good shooter overnight and Drummond becomes a more complete offensive big man without another hiccup, the Pistons just don't have the pieces to be a good offensive team.