Game Recap/Notes: Preseason Game #1. Pistons 126 - Suns 130.
We have actual basketball to talk about yay
Not a particularly great game for the Pistons, who came back to force overtime largely due to the Suns putting in the deep bench (the starters were all in street cloths coming out of halftime) but hey it was at least kinda fun.
Cade Cunningham:
Was okay? Yeah I think okay is the right descriptor. in 23 minutes of work he scored 12 points on 5-15 shooting from the field, with 10 of those points coming in a short period in the 3rd quarter. Had 6 assists against 2 turnovers to go along with it.
On one hand, it looked similar to his NBA performances before, which is to say looks pretty good but ultimately not efficient enough, but he also felt to be in cruise control to a large degree, deferring to passes regularly and often choosing to walk into jumpers instead of attacking. On the jumpers, it is worth pointing out that he basically never had any spacing to work with which, of course, makes playing aggressively more difficult. Effectively the takeaway for the game is that there isn’t much to see here from Cade. He looked largely like the guy he has been which is both good and bad. The only really standout thing from the game for Cade is that we saw some proof of concept that the offseason chatter about him and Duren being effective together is truth. Would love to see Monty Williams make a concerted effort to get Cade with more spacing in the rest of the preseason even if it means defensive sacrifices.
Alec Burks:
Started and didn’t do much of note. 6 points on 6 shots in 17 minutes. Was not overly involved and didn’t play a ton.
Ausar Thompson:
Definitely one of the bright spots. He picked up right where he left off in Summer league by looking awesome in all sorts of ways. A double-double with 12 points, 10 boards, and 6 assists including the overtime-forcing three-point shot in the closing moments of regulation. He did need to take a few shots to get to 12 points, 3-9 from the field and just 5-8 from the line, and he did turn the ball over 4 times and commit 4 fouls, but he did play 39 minutes (by far the most on the team) which makes the numbers a little less impactful but still. He was exceptionally active on both ends, made winning plays, and other than getting a few “welcome to the league” moments defensively (on one possession Devin Booker pulled up for a jumper just inside the three-point line that sent Ausar almost into the front row) but was mostly good. Ausar will likely continue to be rough around the edges and time will tell what his shot ends up looking like, but he does so many winning things that the Pistons are otherwise lacking.
Isaiah Stewart:
11 points on 5-10 shooting, 1-6 from beyond the arc despite never being guarded even a little bit, did have 3 blocks though. Not much to say positively other than that he managed a few nice cleanup buckets inside. Obviously foolish to make any grandiose claims off a single preseason game but the Stewart at the 4 idea looked like it did most of the time last year, which is to say it looked utterly untenable.
Jalen Duren:
Only played 15 minutes after taking some sort of ankle injury. finished with 6 points on 2-4 shooting (and just 2-6 at the line) with a single rebound and assist. Not a standout night but the one assist was a very nice backdoor pass and he showed solid chemistry rolling to the hoop with both Cade Cunningham and Ausar Thompson. Played so little that there isn’t much to say beyond that but he looked just fine. As far as I know there isn’t any news about his ankle issue being terribly serious but we will see.
Jaden Ivey:
Came off the bench (which is very stupid) and looked excellent. 15 points on 5-8 shooting (3-6 from deep and 2-4 from the line) with 4 boards and 4 assists. He was aggressive when he attacked, confident when he shot from deep, and competed defensively. I am choosing to not get too bent out of shape about him not starting and going to chalk it up to just being preseason strangeness but if that continues there will be a rant because unless it is a semi-disciplinary thing there is no good reason for him to come off the bench.
James Wiseman:
NOT GOOD
Killian Hayes:
Had a very nice outing. 13 points on 5-8 shooting (3-3 from the line) to go along with 7 assists in just 21 minutes of work. His shot still doesn’t really look right but everything else was there, also remember that he seemed to lose his mojo every time he came off the bench last season so the fact he seemed engaged and confident despite coming off the bench is a good sign. In addition there is obvious benefit to him and Ausar being on the floor together, two guys who are big for their position, pluses defensively, and high hoops IQ is a good recipe.
Marvin Bagley:
Going to capture the headlines from this game, in 22 minutes, all in the second half and most in the 4th quarter/overtime (I think he came first got on the floor with just a few minutes left in the 3rd) he scored 25 points on 10-14 shooting (4-5 from the line) with 7 rebounds. Even if its all against the deep bench of the Suns it was a positive outing and he unquestionably looked better than Wiseman if those are really the two guys competing for backup big minutes. I wouldn’t take much else from this for Bagley because he has games like this but still nice to see him looking active and effective out of the gate. If one of Bagley/Wiseman can be worth much of anything for the team this year it would help a great deal.
General:
For anyone who is not a degenerate Bojan Bogdanovic, Isaiah Livers, and Monte Morris were all out tonight which is why they didn’t appear. The other end of the bench guys looked alright, especially Stanley Umude who was a big part of the comeback.
It is worth saying one more time that the first half was a complete blood bath and the game only got competitive in the 4th quarter which was effectively all garbage time. This isn’t meant to dismiss any positives from that period but for pretty much the entirety of the game that the Suns were trying at all this was non-competitive.
Why is it for sure bad to bring Ivey off the bench?
In simplest terms, he is clearly too good to be a bench guy. In wider terms it is highly frustrating. Finding out if Ivey and Cade can play effectively together (and hopefully getting them reps together to improve how they work together) should be one of the top priorities of the season. To not only have him come off the bench but also barely play next to Cade is baffling.
What if Cade and Ivey don’t look good together?
Well splitting them up isn’t going to help them learn is it? In the larger picture, both guys are good enough prospects that if they can’t fit together then they should trade one of them. Of course trading either one right now would be absurd without giving them at least a season to try and find cohesion, but once again, staggering their minutes does nothing for that. Even if you envision Ivey as a 6th-man he is too good to not be playing when it counts so even then you need these two guys to find cohesion playing together. These are the best two young prospects the Pistons have had since at least Andre Drummond and probably since Grant Hill, you need to give them a chance to work together and if they can’t you MUST get value for one of them. The entire franchise hinges on it.
Lastly, I saw a couple people suggest that maybe putting in Burks was Monty Williams way of keeping some shooting in the lineup with Bojan out but like… Ivey is one of like 3 proven shooters who dressed for the game so why would you not bump Ausar or Stew at that point?
So once again, for my own sanity I’m choosing to believe its just some quirk of preseason but if he is coming off the bench when the games count it will be inexcusable.