| Detroit Free Press
Detroit Pistons rookie Killian Hayes on playing with Blake Griffin
Detroit Pistons’ Killian Hayes talks Dec. 15, 2020, about playing with Blake Griffin and what it’s like to have veterans Griffin and Derrick Rose.
Detroit Pistons
This will be one of the most unique and interesting seasons of Detroit Pistons basketball in recent memory.
They have a new general manager, Troy Weaver, who has a new philosophy on what the present and future of Pistons basketball should look like. They swung an impressive amount of trades in a short time to shape the vision of the roster, and spent a sizable amount of money in free agency.
The roster is a mish-mash of proven veteran talent and youth. Only four players return from last year’s team. Less than a week of training camp, along with only four preseason games, gave a limited view of what this team will look like this season. It could be weeks before the rotation is somewhat settled, and because of the number of rookies vying for playing time and the unpredictable nature of the trade deadline, the rotation could look significantly different at the end of the season compared to the beginning.
[ Pistons give glimpse of Troy Weaver’s plan in preseason win over Wizards ]
It all adds to what will certainly be an intriguing season, if nothing else. The newness of the franchise lends to several things I’m looking forward to watching when the Pistons tip off their 2020-21 season against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday.
Killian Hayes’ rookie season
Rookie point guards are always interesting to watch, and Hayes will have the opportunity to seize a large role. He has been the starter at point guard during preseason, and will be in the mix for the starting job on opening night. He gives Pistons fans an exciting player to watch develop.
Hayes is Detroit’s first lottery point guard since Brandon Knight in 2011, and the franchise’s highest overall draft pick since Greg Monroe in 2010. Because of injuries, trades and misses in the draft, it seems as though the Pistons have had a steady rotation of players filling the point guard position since Chauncey Billups consistently manned it from 2002-08. Reggie Jackson, their latest starter, came the closest but missed 69 games due to injury from 2016-18.
As the first draft pick of Weaver’s tenure, Hayes is carrying heightened expectations going into the season. He has shown enough flashes during preseason to make one curious as to how he’ll develop this season.
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The rest of the young players
For the first time since the 2012-13 season, the Pistons will have five rookies on their roster — Hayes, Saddiq Bey, Isaiah Stewart, Saben Lee and Deividas Sirvydis. Include Sekou Doumbouya, who spent less than half of a full year with the Pistons last season, and a significant portion of the roster is entering the season with little NBA experience.
Hayes, Bey and Doumbouya appear to be the most likely candidates to receive significant playing time. Bey had a strong showing in the Pistons’ preseason opener, scoring 14 points and hitting three 3-pointers. Pistons coach Dwane Casey has praised his defensive effort as well. He closed the first half of Friday’s win against the Washington Wizards alongside the rest of the starting lineup.
Bey hit 45.1% of his 3s last season with Villanova. Outside of Svi Mykhailiuk and Wayne Ellington, the Pistons lack shooting in their wing rotation, which creates an opportunity for Bey to fill a roster hole and receive consistent playing time.
Doumbouya has looked like a different player, at times, during the past two preseason games. He’s handling the ball with more comfort, shooting with more confidence and displaying a better understanding of what he should be doing on offense each possession. He has also been much sharper defensively. If he can maintain this level of play into the season, Casey won’t be able to leave him on the bench much.
[ What Sekou’s strong game could mean for Pistons’ regular season ]
Stewart is a wildcard. He has had impressive moments in preseason with his hustle and effort, but the Pistons are loaded at power forward and center — the two positions he’s best-suited to play. Weaver is high on Stewart’s talent, and drafted him higher than many mock drafts predicted he would go. Stewart has received praise from the coaching staff and his teammates, and there weren’t so many players in front of him, it would be easier to see him carving out a larger role.
Blake Griffin’s potential comeback season
After missing the majority of last season due to injury, Griffin finds himself in a position he has been in several times before: having to prove he can be the same player he was before, if not a better one.
Griffin missed his entire rookie season, and 95 games from 2014-18. During that span, he continued to get better every season. He has transitioned from a high-flying finisher to a full-on lead ball handler who’s also a threat from outside. Even though he’s 31, there’s reason to believe he can return to an All-Star level this season.
He has looked good during preseason, even though his 3-pointer isn’t falling. It’s his first time playing basketball since January, and as Casey said Friday, shooters don’t forget how to shoot. The Pistons have been projected to be one of the worst teams in the NBA this season, but if Griffin is 100% healthy and resumes where he left off from the 2018-19 season, it’ll give Detroit a chance to surpass expectations.
[ How Griffin, Rose will help Pistons avoid becoming ‘Process Sixers’ ]
Jerami Grant’s journey to prove himself
Grant’s decision to spurn the Denver Nuggets, who made the Western Conference Finals last season, for a larger role with the Pistons stunned many across the league. Grant had a standout performance in the NBA bubble, especially as a versatile defender.
He was one of the Nuggets’ most irreplaceable players, and they were reportedly willing to match Detroit’s three-year, $60 million offer. But Detroit offered Grant something the Nuggets couldn’t — a featured role in their offense. Grant’s performance as a Piston will be one of the most-watched storylines of the season.
He had his best offensive game of preseason on Friday, finishing with 15 points on 5-for-8 shooting and 3-for-5 from behind the arc. He mostly did it by doing what he did best in Denver: Hitting spot-up 3s. However, he had two drives to the rim that might’ve hinted as a slashing and finishing ability he didn’t get to flex often in Denver. Grant and the Pistons are both banking he has more to show.
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Josh Jackson’s redemption tour
Jackson, a former 2016 top-ranked recruit, was raised in Detroit and attended Consortium College Prep School before moving to California to finish his final two years of high school.
His NBA career has had many twists and turns after being drafted fourth overall in 2017, but he has returned home to play for the Pistons. And he’ll have a chance to prove he can still live up to being a top-five pick, after being traded from Phoenix to Memphis and spending time in the G League last season. He has a big fan in Casey, who believes Jackson deserves an opportunity to show his improvement.
Contact Omari Sankofa II at osankofa@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @omarisankofa. Read more on the Detroit Pistons and sign up for our Pistons newsletter.