Three takeaways from Detroit Pistons, 90-84, loss to New York Knicks

Following the Detroit Pistons preseason opener against the New York Knicks, here are three quick takeaways from the night

1. Blake Griffin and Derrick Rose look healthy

Only time will tell how productive they will be when the games count, and if they can stay healthy but, following the extra-long layoff, both of the Detroit Pistons injury-prone veterans looked bouncy and energetic.

It is not time to start any parades, they need to stay healthy for the whole season. We will see how productive they actually are when the games count.

The health of both players will have a significant impact on the upcoming season. Both players being healthy and productive is pretty much the only shot the Pistons have to be anything other than awful. There is also a good chance the Pistons will look to move both players, if they can.

Derrick Rose remains the most obvious player they could trade for future assets while Blake Griffin they are just going to hope to get off of his contract. If both guys get hurt again early/look awful, then the Pistons will almost certainly lose a ton of games and be fairly unwatchable, not to mention the trade bits.

All in all, it also just feels nice to see both guys looking energetic and bouncy, even if it doesn’t last that long.

2. Killian Hayes looks like he’s 19

Not a huge shock here, but Killian Hayes looked like he was in way over his head. Bad turnovers and mostly lost on defense. Nothing to panic about, young point guards are typically over-matched disasters, and the shortness of training camp will only amplify this.

The main things to watch with Hayes, will be if he looks improved as the season goes on in this area. Is is he actually learning from all the mistakes or not; and whether or not the concern about his (lack of) explosiveness proves founded. He didn’t get many chances to try and beat his guys off the dribble, or finish over shot blockers, and when he did try and drive, he turned it over so no real data here.

Probably smart to at least get a month into the regular season before making any sort of real commentary on Hayes. But this game suggests it will be a long year in the school of hard knocks for the French point-guard.

3. Jerami Grant might’ve made a big mistake leaving Denver

I don’t know for sure what to say here. My heart says to ignore it, because it’s just a preseason game, but holy smokes. Jerami Grant turned down the same money from Denver to seek a larger offensive role in Detroit.

After being a total non-creator his whole career, there are tons of questions about what a larger role looks like, and how he does. In this game, that larger role was randomly trying to dribble into isolations, before puking up bad shots. He looked completely incapable.

It is worth remembering here that we are not worried about his 3-point shot misses. He’s not an elite shooter but Grant is proven as a spot-up guy. We are also not worried about his apparent lack of defensive impact because, once again, he’s proven there.

If the Pistons can do some things to get him into better positions, it would help as well. However, given coach Dwane Casey’s history of offenses without any creativity, and generally not doing the sort of stuff that would help a player like Grant get into better positions, we’ll see.

Telling him “Well if you want to shoot more then shoot more” is very on-brand.

The Pistons will next be in action Sunday, December 13, once again hosting the New York  Knicks in Detroit in a rematch.