3 reasons why the Detroit Pistons shouldn’t trade Luke Kennard

3. Luke is Still Coming Into His Own

Every year he’s been in the league, Kennard has added something to his game and has tried to perfect skills in his game. I don’t think he’s reached his ceiling yet, but I also don’t think he’s too far off from reaching his full potential, which, I suppose, could be seen as a bad thing because at the moment he just seems like a scorer and that’s about it. But there’s much more to his game than just scoring.

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This year he’s more than doubled his assist numbers from the previous season and he’s added many new tricks to his bag that we haven’t seen much before. His confidence was radiating and it showed. He started taking step-back jumpers, calling for more pick-and-rolls, and his usage rate rose because of it. While he probably will never be a point guard-level primary ball handler, as a secondary ball handler, what a luxury it is to have a guy with the IQ and unselfishness that Luke has.

With Blake Griffin out most of the start of this year, Kennard was one of the Pistons top options on offense and teams were starting to pick up on that and Luke had to learn to deal with it. He’s still getting better at make decisions when he gets blitzed in the pick-and-roll and double-teamed, and those decision-making skills will only get better with time.

While he’s not the most athletic guy in the world, and he’s dealt with some injuries, his potential is still extremely high. The sky is not the limit for Kennard, but you still might need a telescope to see what he could become in this league and the Pistons would be foolish to let him go at this stage of his career.