Game Recap/Notes: Game #3. Pistons 115 - Pacers 124. (1-2)

Tough game considering that the Pacers are likely one of the worst teams in the entire NBA. The good news is that the Pistons were going to be bad anyways so no reason not to rip off the band-aid and go for the french guy.

Box Score.

The Defense:

Rather than tell you how bad everyone was just know that everyone was bad. I’m going to make some rewatch to see if there is anyone that really stands out but from the first watch, I haven’t felt that. It isn’t like in some past years where one or two guys (think Steve Blake/or Blake Griffin after his knees started crumbling) who are obviously to blame because they simply can’t stay in front of guys. In fact, the Pistons’ rotation is largely made up of guys that do a pretty decent job of staying with their charges in 1 on 1 situations.

The problem is that they are constantly missing assignments and leaving guys open. This was likely to be an issue due to the Pistons’ youth, but it is bad even with that caveat. I’m not totally sure what exactly the Pistons’ defensive plan is, they are switching tons of stuff but they are not switching everything. Many of the breakdowns seem to happen as a result of guys not being clear on when they are and are not supposed to switch. Resulting in two Pistons following one offensive player or simply forgetting who they are supposed to be covering away from the ball. And it is everyone, even last year’s defensive stalwarts Killian Hayes and Isaiah Stewart have been guilty. The whole team is just completely out of sync defensively.

Once again, given the youth on the roster, I’m hesitant to put too much blame on the coaching here, but if they don’t get things tightened up somehow there has to be some sort of change. As much as the coaches can say the players are not executing, at some point you need to bite the bullet and simplify things. But they should give it a few more games before they do, this Pistons roster has a lot of rangy players who are willing defenders so if they can get their heads on straight the improvement could be significant and quick.

Cade Cunningham:

Somewhat of a similar story to last night. Was quiet early in the game (aside from a couple of early threes) and struggled to find a rhythm until late in the game when he decided to really try and assert himself. He made several baskets in a row in the 4th quarter and clearly had the intention to try and lead the Pistons back into the game. Like last night, the problem is that the Pistons had effectively already let the game get away by the time he tried to assert himself.

Unlike last night, earlier in the game he wasn’t just passive, he was outright poor. Getting his shots blocked, a couple of bad passes and a very lazy foul to get him out of the game in the 1st quarter. His final stat line is fine: 22 points on 20 shot equivalents with 4 boards and 4 assists and +6 in 33 minutes of work. Especially encouraging was seeing him down 4-8 three-pointers including a couple of pull-up looks. His shot has been in a good place through the first few games.

Overall I’m not too worried about his issue with picking his spots. It was an issue last season and learning when he needs to assert himself will take time, I’m mostly just going to be pleased that it remains clear that when he puts his mind to getting buckets he can.

Jaden Ivey:

Also struggled though some of the earlier parts of the game by getting shots blocked and committing 5 turnovers. Still finished with 17 points on 16 shot equivalents, 11 rebounds, and 5 assists while going just -2 on the night. The turnovers were not good of course but they at least were the result of aggression where he attacked and simply didn’t know what he was doing with the ball until it was too late, the official stance of your author remains that we can live with young guys making mistakes as long as they are made in aggression and Ivey checked that box while also hitting some timely shots in the 2nd half.

Also despite committing more turnovers tonight, he continues to regularly make really effective passes in a way that is eye-opening. At some point, he is going to have a huge scoring night but for now, scoring in the upper teens on decent efficiency with effective facilitation is a great way for the rookie to start.

Saddiq Bey:

As a certified Saddiq Bey hater, I have to admit that I’ve been really impressed with him so far this season. Tonight he had 20 points on 20 equivalents along with 11 boards and 3 assists. As I mentioned last night, he is rarely forcing things and mostly finding his shots within the natural flow of the offense, and when he doesn’t have a shot he’s been a willing and effective ball mover.

Also, a good sign is that I think the fouls he’s been drawing could be sustainable. Bey clearly went into this Summer and had an honest assessment of himself that he really doesn’t have the athletic chops to create offense for himself easily. But he took his best attribute, his size, and physicality, and leaned into it. When Bey puts the ball on the floor he is seeking out contact and because he is so strong he forces defenders to put too much body into him to force a whistle. It isn’t terribly elegant and it isn’t going to earn him spots on highlight videos but it can be effective. Especially with how good Ivey looks, the Ivey/Cunningham combo means that Bey has a clear role of being a tertiary offensive option so he only needs to go get his own a few times per game, being able to draw cheeky fouls should be enough for that role. I’m really impressed.

Bojan Bogdanovic:

Struggled a bit. Got his shot blocked just like everyone else on his way to 16 points on 17 equivalents. Bojan did move the ball well to 5 assists and shot 4-10 from deep, but he was miserable when he put the ball on the floor for himself tonight. We saw against the Knicks that Bojan is capable of being effective going inside the arc, but the Pacers somehow had his moves downloaded.

Isaiah Stewart:

Was somewhat culpable for the block party as Pacers bigs ignored him to go chance down attacking ball-handlers. 11 points on 15-shot equivalents is a miserable outcome for the guy that is constantly open even if he did manage 16 rebounds and a pair of assists.

On Stewart, I do want to make something clear. In no way should me being unimpressed/down on him/being a dirty stupid hater who gives up on young guys way too early, be interpreted as me wanting to just bench him or something. My opinion before the season was, and remains now, that the Pistons will suck this season so they should focus on development and finding out what guys are capable of. The way Stewart played for much of this game, taking the open threes, making some attacks off the dribble, and trying to make plays, is what I want to see him do. Even if he does fail, at least the Pistons can go into next offseason knowing that Stew isn’t starter material. While on the flip side, as skeptical as I am, maybe he does find his long shot and he flips the script. The presence of Duren does mean that Stew doesn’t get an unlimited leash but I think he deserves this chance. If Stewart becomes a true stretch big who defenses actually guard I’d be more than happy to be wrong, but I am going to point out what I see and make assessments.

All that said the assessment remains bad. When you are as open as Stewart is consistently you don’t get much benefit of the doubt. Like yeah it’s only three games and three-point shooting is volatile so the bad shooting could be a fluke but when you’re effectively taking warmup shots while your ballhandlers are getting snuffed out it is a very bad sign. With the looks he’s getting he needs to at least be scoring a hyper-efficient 12 points per game.

To finish on a positive, I don’t know how much the fouls Stew is drawing is sustainable/actually resultant of anything Stew is doing, but he has gotten to the line a ton in these three games. If he can manage to sustain that it could become the cornerstone for him to become a valuable offensive player.

Isaiah Livers:

Seeing Livers come into the game instead of Kevin Knox was a welcome sight. 8 points on 6 shots, 2-3 from deep, rebounded and generally did good stuff. Livers is clearly not going to be anything beyond a role-player, but he has the makings of being a really good role-player which is just fine for where he was drafted.

Jalen Duren:

Not overly impactful but a decent bounce-back for Duren. Only 6 points but made all 3 of his shots with 3 boards and 2 blocks in 18 minutes. Pacers players definitely got wary of him around the hoop, the main issue was that he was consistently dragged to the perimeter by the Pacers bigs or by the Pistons switching. He’s clearly more impactful the more he can hang out in the paint. Still, he played within himself, and didn’t make terrible mistakes or bad fouls which is good.

Corey Joseph:

10 points on 7 equivalents. Played fine I guess.

Killian Hayes:

Was positive in terms of putting the ball in the hoop with 5 points on 4 shots, he even hit a three! Still looks largely ineffective offensively. When the ball is in his hands he struggled to create meaningful offense and despite hitting a three and scoring his other bucket on a nice cut he isn’t exactly creating space for others when he doesn’t have the ball. Also another game where he looked very unlike himself on defense.

Hamidou Diallo:

Only played 8 minutes. No meaningful impact.

Rotation stuff:

I understand the idea of staggering Cade and Ivey more so that one is always on the floor. I’m not sure how much of a difference it makes. As impressive as Ivey has been, I’m not sure he’s ready to carry a terrible bench unit that provides him with no spacing. Livers being back helped and once Burks and Noel get back the bench has a chance to actually be good, but for now, I’m not going to be too hard on Casey about it. The bench is bad because the players coming off of the bench are bad. Hayes and CoJo are both actively bad, Hamidou Diallo occasionally does nice things but is such an awkward fit he’s often a negative even when he hits some shots, Duren is talented but still just 18, and Livers is decent but very limited. As such, I’m not going to get too worked about Casey basically deciding to try and get the one good lineup they can make (Cade/Ivey/Saddiq/Bojan/whoever at center) on the floor together for as much as he can and just praying that the bench can avoid giving the game away.

Once they get healthier, Burks in particular, then this excuse won’t hold as much water. But for now, I’m not going to get too upset about it.

What do you think? How does Cade Pick his spots better? How would you do the rotations?