Detroit Pistons 2019-2020 player grade: Sekou Doumbouya
Detroit Pistons fans had high hopes for their rookie heading into the 2019-2020 season, but did he live up to the expectation?
Sekou Doumbouya was never expected to fall all the way down to 15th overall in the 2019 NBA Draft. No one inside of the Detroit Pistons’ organization thought that they’d have a chance to select him, but when the opportunity arose, they didn’t hesitate.
He was only able to play in one Summer League game after sitting out with an injury, so fans were left waiting until the preseason began to really see him in action.
Heading into the year, the consensus belief with Sekou was that he is a project, and the expectations for him shouldn’t be through the roof. He’s coming over from Europe, he’s the youngest player in the entire league, Detroit needed to let him acclimate.
Also. Player comparisons for 3 Pistons draft prospects. light
What exactly the timetable on him being a “project” is exactly remains up in the air. Fans had no idea what his usage or what his impact could look like.
After spending the first quarter of the season up and down from the Pistons’ G-League affiliate in Grand Rapids, or playing meaningless minutes at the end of blowouts, Sekou wasn’t getting the run that fans had envisioned.
Finally on January 2nd, shortly after it was determined that Blake Griffin would undergo season ending surgery, Sekou got his chance as Detroit started their first west coast roadtrip.
In what was maybe the most shocking development of the season, he was randomly listed as a started against the Los Angeles Clippers. At the time it was becoming more and more clear that the Pistons needed to start to blow things up, so this was a nice silver lining.