Detroit Pistons: Sekou Doumbouya has to practice his way into minutes

Sekou Doumbouya needs to practice his way out of the doghouse for the Detroit Pistons.

Sekou Doumbouya racked up another DNP against the Milwaukee Bucks in the most recent loss for the Detroit Pistons.

Doumbouya appears to be in Dwane Casey’s doghouse but it is tough to know why considering the second-year forward has barely played.

When he has played, he has been mostly effective, especially in the games when he was given more playing time.

Something is going on with Doumbouya, as he hasn’t played poorly enough in games to be benched entirely, which tells me something is going on in practice.

Detroit Pistons: Sekou Doumbouya needs to prove it in practice

Dwane Casey has made it clear that he is not going to just hand young players minutes because they were high draft picks.

He keeps using the phrase “earning minutes” but that is hard when you don’t get off the bench.

Dwane Casey must be seeing something off the court or in practice that he doesn’t like because Sekou has played well enough in the games to at least be in the rotation.

Fans are often upset about playing time and can’t understand why a guy like Sekou is not getting minutes while Wayne Ellington, who is not part of the future, is playing.

But we don’t get to see what goes on behind the scenes, which guys are getting after it in practice and which guys are pouting and not giving effort.

Culture change does not come overnight, especially if you reward young players who have yet to put in the work.

I’m not saying this is the case with Sekou Doumbouya, who is a hard worker by all accounts, but right now the only way he is going to “earn” minutes is by practicing hard because he is not going to get them in the games yet.