I was considering making this a classic standby of mine of having my recap simply saying “burn the tape.” A handy joke to use when I was so depressed that I didn’t want to write anything, but given that I just loudly announced my return I decided I’d better not already start slacking. So here we go, the Pistons lost 89-117 to the Bucks “B” team and it wasn’t even that close. This was one of the more awful games I’ve watched the Pistons play in recent memory which is a high bar to clear.
Also just to be above the table here, I was not all the way paying attention for most of the 4th quarter because I got into a heated argument on twitter.
Killian Hayes:
Actually, kind of one of the brightish spots? Perhaps “bright spot” isn’t the best way to put it. Let’s put it as: “Killian Hayes was one of the few spots for the Pistons that wasn’t the gaping maw of eternal damnation fissuring through the earth where the LCA once stood”. Yeah, let’s go with that.
Built off of the last few games by, occasionally, showing real confidence. Had a couple of aggressive drives, (even if one got comically erased by Giannis) and even hit a signature step-back 3 on his way to 8 points on 7 shots with 4 assists. He did pick up 5 fouls, which I didn’t even realize so I’m assuming he picked up a couple in garbage time when I wasn’t paying close attention. Killian also continued to be (mostly) a dog on defense.
I remain a Killian Hayes skeptic, I’m not sure he has the explosion to consistently penetrate defenses (a must for a modern PG) and he still seems miles away from being a good enough shooter to be used in the Lonzo Ball-style role of a sort of PG who spends most half-court sets off the ball. HOWEVA, the confidence he has shown recently has moved the needle on my personal “Believe-O-Meter” ever so slightly.
Also was nice to see him stay on the floor a bit longer even if it was in garbage time.
Cade Cunningham:
Ouch. Cade had a bad first outing, this was much worse. Got a full allotment of minutes at 29, and finished with 6 points on 15 shot equivalents (2-14 from the field and 0-9 from deep) with just 3 assists against 2 turnovers, was also totally lost on defense most of the night in ways that went beyond the normal “young player loses the plot for a possession” ways. I am fully ready to believe that Cunningham is still finding his feet after the ankle injury, but if that is the issue you almost have to wonder if he should even be playing. He looked totally out of place on the floor, he even air-balled a couple of floaters that were his bread-and-butter in college.
Perhaps of most concern here is that I am genuinely concerned about his shot. There was a story about how he was tweaking it slightly in camp but it looks noticeably different, perhaps more than just a tweak. And while I won’t pretend to be some sort of shot-doctor, his whole shooting motion just looks bad and his shots are missing badly. This is another one where maybe he just isn’t getting the lift from his one ankle that he needs, but that still comes back to the fact that if he is that hampered he should probably not be on the floor at all.
No one should panic of course, it’s two games coming off an injury where it seems clear he isn’t all the way right. But there is no way to spin this other than an abject disaster of a game and it is concerning because either something has gone very wrong with his game or that ankle injury is way worse than we were led to believe.
Saddiq Bey:
Brutal outing for Bey, maybe even worse than for Cade because at least Cade has the excuse of it being his second game and the injury stuff. Saddiq scored just 4 points on 13 shots (2-13 from the field, 0-4 from deep) and what was especially bizarre was that he seemed hesitant to let fly from deep. There was one possession in the first half where he straight up passed out of an open three two times in the same possession. This may just be the result of a colossal brain fart on the night, which happens I suppose. The worry is that he could possibly have lost some confidence in his shot with his ice-cold start that has his percentage from deep on the verge of dipping below 30%. He showed enough that I’m confident it will come up, but this is really getting into concerning territory for Bey. He’s clearly been over-taxed so far this season on the offensive end, hopefully, it hasn’t had a negative impact on his overall play.
Jeremy Grant:
The one actual bright spot, as in the one guy that wasn’t an abject disaster. 21 points on 14 shot equivalents is solid. Finally hit some deep balls by going 4-8. Didn’t do much beyond that, just 1 assist, 2 rebounds, and giving very little resistance defensively, but at least he seems to have found his jumper which is good. We will see where Grant ends up statistically this season, but he can start building himself up now.
Isaiah Stewart:
On paper, 5 points on 7 equivalents with 8 boards and 2 blocks in 24 minutes is fine but on the actual court is was very much not fine. Stewart’s shortcomings offensively, being neither dangerous as a roll man or a popper, was an absolute anchor on the offense, and he did nothing to stabilize the defense when others faltered. Also, I’m not sure how much he has to do with it, but for some reason the Pistons continued the trend of forcing the ball to him in the post early on in the game. We don’t need that. In an obvious mouse in the house situation sure but other than that, no. Just not what we need. Stewart’s play deserves a post of it’s own (which will be coming soon) but he needs to find himself somehow because this has been a tough start to the season for him.
Kelly Olynyk:
5 points on 5 shots. Got blitzed defensively, had very ugly facial hair.
Cory Joseph:
7 points on as many equivalents, made a couple of nice plays. Hopefully he is pulling himself out of his early season slump as well.
Trey Lyles:
Continues to be the one guy who’s overperforming early on with 13 points on 12 shot equivalents and 7 rebounds in just 19 minutes. I’m not sure he is going to keep shooting like this (well above his career mark) but the Pistons sure could use it for now. Should probably get more time at least while others in the lineup are slumping the way they are.
Frank Jackson:
Still can’t buy a three and even if he got a couple other shots to fall he joins the list of players who have had brutal starts to the season.
Josh Jackson:
Did very little offensively but did have a sweet defensive sequence with like three blocks under the hoop in one possession which was fun.
Garbage time: Diallo, Garza, McGruder, and Lee all got on the floor. I was not really paying attention at that point so I have no comments other than that it isn’t great that Diallo, who the Pistons traded Svi (who is now at the back end of the Raptors rotation and shooting 40% from deep) and a 2nd round pick for is now on the outside of the rotations despite how awful the team has been.
Dwane Casey:
There was a stretch in the 2nd quarter where Cade was allowed to run the show and got to do some more stuff, but Casey really needs to swallow his pride about how he doesn’t really structure the offense and force Cade and Killian into pick and rolls/pops. That’s all I have to say on the matter for now.