Luke Kennard’s return will help Detroit Pistons take next step

The Detroit Pistons have been without shooting guard Luke Kennard since the end of October. He will be a guy that can help elevate the success of this team when he returns.

Luke Kennard was a nightly contributor off the bench and even started in nine games last season for the Detroit Pistons.

Much of the talk about Kennard was negative because of what Donovan Mitchell was able to do last season with the Utah Jazz.

The Pistons drafted the Duke standout just one spot before the Mitchell. He went on to be the rookie of the year and lead the Jazz to a playoff series victory.

That should take away from what Kennard actually did during his rookie season.

He was easily one of the best shooters on the team last season. Kennard shot 44 percent from the field and was 41 percent from long range. With all that being said, he only played 20 minutes a night.

In a league where three-point shooting has become a much more vital aspect to success, one would think that Kennard would have played more minutes than he did.

He averaged seven points a game in his rookie season. That was under Stan Van Gundy.

Dwane Casey is now the head coach and has said that the Pistons would make three-point shooting a much bigger part of their game plan on offense.

Before the injury, Kennard was only playing 14 minutes a night. That was also at a point in time where Casey was feeling out different lineups and seeing what worked.

I believe that Kennard will play a much bigger role on this team when he comes back from his injury. I also believe that he will help take the Detroit Pistons to the next level.

He’s a guard that can shoot from the perimeter and the Pistons have struggled from the perimeter.

Do I think he will be the starter? No.

Reggie Bullock will likely be the starting shooting guard throughout the season. His month of November has been much better than October.

However, Casey believes it’s more important who is finishing games on the floor.

Kennard gives the new head coach versatility as well. He can be used when the Pistons go with smaller lineups and either play shooting guard or small forward.

Kennard was set to play in the summer league to get reps playing point guard until he had an injury just before the start of play.

Could we see more of that when he comes back and the season goes along? I wouldn’t rule it out.

Yes, the Pistons have both Reggie Jackson as a starter and Ish Smith coming off the bench. However, Smith has an expiring contract. Jackson will have just one year left on his contract after this season.

Casey will have to start looking for other people to get familiar with that position if they were to decide to move on from both of those guys.

Kennard has proven to be effective when he does have the ball in his hands either scoring or setting up his teammates.

Given the right circumstances, I believe Kennard can flourish in Casey’s new system. He will certainly receive the opportunities to do so when he comes back.

In his second season and coming off an early-season injury, expect Luke Kennard to come back looking prove something.