What should expectations be for Detroit Pistons’ Luke Kennard

When the Detroit Pistons drafted Luke Kennard, many expected him to fill the backup shooting guard spot behind Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. Then the Pistons went out and signed Langston Galloway, who muddies up Kennard’s path to playing time. What should our expectations be for Kennard in year one?

The Detroit Pistons have improved their talent at the shooting guard position, at least on paper, from a season ago when shooting guard was a position of weakness.

Gone is Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who has been replaced with Avery Bradley. No more Darrun Hilliard and Stanley Johnson sharing minutes at the position on the bench. Instead, it the Pistons have added a proven rotation player in Langston Galloway, a highly skilled lottery pick in Luke Kennard, and Reggie Bullock will be back, hopefully completely healthy and ready to show what he can contribute.

While there is little debating about the amount of talent gained at the shooting guard position this offseason, the moves do leave me wondering where Kennard fits in.

Kennard has already exceeded Stan Van Gundy’s expectations, but that matters little if expectations were low.

As the roster stands now, I would be shocked if Van Gundy has Kennard ahead of Galloway, which would put him third on the depth chart behind Avery Bradley and Galloway. Moreover, I wouldn’t even be surprised if Reggie Bullock ranks ahead of Kennard at this point in the offseason.

That leaves Kennard having to beat out one of four NBA proven rotational players, in order to even crack the rotation.

Next: Detroit Pistons impressed with Luke Kennard so far

Impossible? No, but it does illustrate that expectations should be stymied a bit for Kennard in year one, despite how impressive he’s been so far.