Game Recap/Notes: Game #4. Pistons 98 - Wizards 119. (1-3)
I don’t know why but this game was one of the more demoralizing losses of the last couple of seasons. I was pretty clear about believing the team would be terrible this season, but this was still tough. The defensive mistakes, the lack of effort in transition, generally other than the occasional Ivey lightening strike the team generally looks miserable.
Cade Cunningham:
Yeah this was exactly the type of game that people who are down on Cade have talked about. He did finish with 18 points and 3 assists but he needed 22 shot equivalents to get those points and spent large portions of the game not overly engaged. I still think the whole passivity issue is largely him trying to pick his spots and just learning how to try and do that, but the rest is simply not good enough. And while the continued presence of Stewart in the starting lineup makes life very hard for Cade, that isn’t enough to justify this.
Of course, this isn’t like, a panic button for Cade or anything, but I think its officially time to say that this isn’t going to cut it. You can’t waive it off, he needs to play better than this. And while it may not be totally fair to ask a young guy to carry the load he’s asked to, that’s life for the #1 overall pick, the standards are higher. I still feel excellent about him long-term and have a great deal of faith that he will improve, but the point still needs to be made that he needs to be better.
Jaden Ivey:
Also not good enough. 11 points on 12-shot equivalents with 4 assists. He had a couple of awesome plays, one absurd reverse layup and a couple of possessions where he went right at Porzingis, but he just wasn’t involved enough. He is firmly in the zone that I will be totally fine with him putting up some brutal stat-lines as long as he’s aggressive. Don’t float in and out of games.
Saddiq Bey:
Games like tonight will really highlight the difference between Bey’s spot in the pecking order the last two years and this year. Not only did Bey only score 6 points, he only took 5 shots and had 1 assist and I’m pretty sure 3 of those points were an And-1 in garbage time. Unlike Ivey, we can live with this. Bey isn’t good enough at creating himself to be forcing the issue, so his quiet night is really an indictment of the Piston’s ball handlers more than anything. That said, it probably wouldn’t hurt Bey to get a little bit more trigger-happy on nights like this where it clearly isn’t happening for the other guys.
Bojan Bogdanovic:
Remains a bright spot for the Pistons. 25 points on just 15 shot equivalents. His quick trigger and accuracy from deep is killer and provides immense value to the Pistons. It’s an adventure when he puts it on the floor, if he dribbles more than twice a bad thing is probably going to happen, but other than the degree that he is culpable in the defensive mishaps (which he definitely gets a share of the blame) he has been the Pistons steadiest player and one of the few guys who’s provided everything you could’ve realistically hoped for.
Isaiah Stewart:
13 points on 12-shot equivalents with 10 boards is a tidy number but it still comes with the huge caveat that defenses are totally ignoring him to the point that it isn’t good enough. To make matters worse he is just as culpable with some of the defensive issues as anyone else and tonight Porzingis mostly gave him the business. Porzingis didn’t put up a huge number (only 20 points) but he was highly efficient and it certainly looked as though he could’ve done more work if the game had been competitive.
Once again, we are pretty much at the point with Stew where there isn’t anything to say other than he MUST hit shots. So he needs to fire away, keep his confidence, and go for it. Because when you are as wide open as he is you cannot be passive offensively.
Isaiah Livers:
Livers is pretty much in the Anthony Tolliver/Langston Galloway zone. If he hits his shots it’s a good game, if he doesn’t then it’s bad. He managed 5 points on 7 shots only due to getting fouled at the end of a quarter. He went 1-6 from the field and 0-5 from deep.
Kevin Knox:
Briefly got in and had a dunk. Otherwise very bad.
Jalen Duren:
The story here is the same. The athleticism genuinely stands out even against NBA players as he grabbed 8 boards in just 23 minutes. I’m not totally sure if tossing him into the starting lineup is the best plan but that is purely due to not wanting to overburden him/play him too much. But despite the occasional lack of judgment that 18-year-olds are prone to, he’s been the Pistons’ best big man so far.
Killian Hayes:
0-6 from the field, 5 turnovers in 17 minutes and those numbers don’t do full justice for how bad he was. The thing about Hayes is that the Pistons are a bad team that is giving minutes to several bad players, and yet Hayes still stands out with just how bad he is. Maybe the hoops epiphany is just around the corner for hayes, and the Pistons suck anyways so no reason not to let him play, but this is going to just get brutal as the season goes.
Corey Joseph:
Is no longer the worst point-guard on the team.
Hamidou Diallo:
17 minutes, 7 points on 6 equivalents. Had a couple of flashes of tenacity that stood out for him at times last season, if he could find those vibes back it would make a big difference for the bench unit.
General:
The degree to which the whole team seems out of sync and out of desire defensively is wild. I do wonder a bit if maybe it is going to be time to part with Casey soon because at some point teams do tend to tune out coaches. I have laid off the “fire Casey” train because the Pistons will suck anyways and Casey should at least keep the locker room from falling apart, but if this is what they have then maybe something else is needed.
I don’t know, maybe the Pistons will come out like gangbusters and beat the Hawks tomorrow and we will all feel much better, but even with how low my expectations were for this season, this could genuinely get ugly in a hurry.
What do you think? How can they get life back into the team?