Before the Pistons can take a leap in the win column and contend for the postseason, the team will need its young role players to improve in their development. Mike Curtis of The Detroit News identifies power forward Marvin Bagley III — the former No. 2 lottery pick in 2018 — athletic wing Hamidou Diallo, and center Isaiah Stewart as three such role players capable of growing their games in 2022/23.
Curtis thinks that Bagley could become a reliable option in the post if he can stay healthy next year. Curtis also opines that Diallo could see his standing in the Detroit hierarchy improve if he grows as a long-range shooter. Stewart’s three-point output has been limited in the last two seasons. He has connected on 33% of his 0.8 attempts thus far in his NBA career. Curtis writes that the 6’8″ big man showed off an increased willingness to let fly from outside during two Summer League contests with Detroit in Las Vegas this year. Overall, Stewart shot 5-of-9 from outside.
There’s more out of the Motor City:
- The Pistons may still be holding out hope that they can use the expiring $9.2MM remaining on veteran point guard Kemba Walker‘s current contract in a trade. Keith Langlois of Pistons.com notes in a new mailbag that, if such a deal does not materialize in time for the start of NBA training camps later this month, Detroit could move to buy him out of his deal. Elsewhere in the mailbag, Langlois says he considers Isaiah Livers the most likely new addition to the Pistons’ starting lineup this season, and thinks star point guard Cade Cunningham, the top draft pick in 2021, could be in line for All-Star consideration this season if he continues to develop.
- In an interview with Johnny Kane of Bally Sports Detroit (Twitter video link), Pistons head coach Dwane Casey expressed enthusiasm about the team’s ability to grow next season. Casey hailed Cade Cunningham and 2022 No. 5 overall pick Jaden Ivey as “stars to be.” Casey anticipates that the team will at the very least improve from its 23-59 record in 2021/22. “You expect growth,” Casey said (hat tip to Mike Curtis of The Detroit News for the transcription). “The internal growth is very important. One thing [GM] Troy Weaver has done is brought a bunch of young, hard-working, character guys in that have been working all summer. I can see the improvement. The game has slowed down for a guy like Saddiq Bey. You mentioned Cade Cunningham. You mention Isaiah Stewart — all those guys, the game has slowed down for them.”
- The Pistons recently agreed to sign free agent big man Micah Potter to a training camp deal. Get the full details here.
With the Jazz having an impending fire sale expected post Mitchell trade curious if the Pistons consider packaging Kemba with some of the outside of the rotation young guys and maybe a 2nd rd pick and go after one of the role players. Bojan would add a lot of wing shooting for them or maybe Clarkson giving them a reliable bench scorer to help keep Cade and Ivey fresh
Hard Pass. Det is still in more of an assets acquisition mode.
Very promising roster and lots of talent in Detroit.
They have drafted really well (besides Killian Hayes).
I think this year will just be a developing year and so expect to much wins but hopefully the guys they have can just get better and more comfortable at the top level.
Be interesting to see next offseason what happens then if they make a push for a big name (I know Draymond Green has been mentioned) or if they try get another top 10 pick and continue with the youth.
Looking into the future, it’s hard to pick a year to go for it. Yes there is a lot of older top tier talent which will/is starting to slow down (Bron, CP3, Harden, Russ, KD, etc etc) but you also have a bunch of priming young teams on the rise and making moves (Memphis, Minnesota, New Orleans, Atlanta, to name a few) then you have the well established strong teams which don’t look to be going anywhere (Philly, Boston, Toronto, Milwauke, Denver, etc etc)
As I said take this year to develop amd then next year maybe make a push for a key target but don’t commit to it all in and if you miss that’s fine run it back and have another go next offseason.
Just continue to be patient and develop talent
Don’t give up on Hayes just yet. He’s 21 yrs old. He’s still got a future imo. Needs the gm to slow down for him. With his size. He can be special. Like to see him work on his D more.
Random stat: Lonzo Ball is the only player in league history who has matched or exceeded Killian’s assists, rebounds, steals and blocks per 75 possessions through an age 20 season
Have you watched Bagley play? No right hand and a black hole on offense… and no defense whatsoever