Analyzing Dennis Smith Jr.’s debut with Detroit Pistons

Despite a mediocre stat line, Dennis Smith Jr. looked solid in his debut despite having to shake off a lot of rust. What should we expect from the newest member of the Detroit Pistons moving forward?

Dennis Smith Jr. stepped on the court for the first time as a member of the Detroit Pistons last night, playing 15 mins in an 111-95 loss to the Indiana Pacers.

His stats were nothing spectacular — 4 points, 2 rebounds, 2 of 5 shooting. This was expected, as Smith Jr. is just getting his legs under him, after being acquired by the team in a swap for Derrick Rose just a few days ago.

It is tough to get a great read after last night’s game, but a couple of things stood out.

What stood out in Dennis Smith Jr. first game with Detroit Pistons

When DSJ is on the floor, he will play with pace and bring energy to the team. The current fit will be seamless, as the Pistons have many young guys who simply play hard.

Smith Jr. didn’t get his first bucket until the fourth quarter, but this will be the last time that happens.

Any time a player of this level arrives at a new team, they play within the flow in their first game. Moving forward, he will hunt his shots more and we will see the attempts go up.

DSJ led the team in plus-minus at +3. Admittedly, plus-minus is a difficult stat to judge, and requires plenty of context, but in this case, we will chalk this up as a big win.

In the next couple weeks, context will be key for Dennis Smith Jr. . We know he has the ability to be a starting point guard in the NBA, he did it for almost a two-and-a-half years in Dallas.

We know he can be an explosive athlete in space.

We also know that Smith Jr. hasn’t played meaningful basketball since 2019 and that he struggled to find his footing his entire stint with the New York Knicks.

As he continues to get comfortable in Detroit, Pistons’ fans will need to keep all of this in mind. It is clear that by acquiring Smith Jr., the Pistons were taking on another reclamation project.

This seems to be Troy Weaver’s plan, falling right in line with similar moves with Josh Jackson and and Jahlil Okafor. In fact, Smith Jr. becomes the 10th player on the Pistons roster under 23-years-old.

At such a young age, there is still plenty of time for DSJ to turn this thing around. And for Pistons fans, that means patience is key.

In the NBA, being a young point guard is one of the harder spots to be in. As a rookie, DSJ met expectations and then some, averaging 15.2 points per game as the Dallas Mavericks best player.

Although his shooting numbers were not great, Smith Jr. played his way onto an All-Rookie team, with his highlight plays above the rim and tenacious guard play.

DSJ’s numbers remained consistent for nearly his entire 2.5 years in Dallas, with the big drop off happening in New York. This is what the Pistons are hoping Smith Jr. can get back to. If he can return to his Dallas form before the end of this season, that gives the team a great building block for the future.

Looking back at last nights rotation, it looks at though DSJ will get great opportunity to prove himself moving forward. With the Pistons’ depleted backcourt, there will be ample minutes for him to shine. It wouldn’t be surprising if Smith Jr. eventually found himself back in 25-28 minute range by season’s end.

With the current roster construction, DSJ is one of the few true point guards in the rotation. Delon Wright currently handles most of the lead guard duties, but he is not a traditional PG. By seasons end, we should not surprised if Smith Jr. starting at that position.

There seems to be excitement with the players as well. Most of team knows DSJ well, including Josh Jackson who played against him growing up.

If the team plans on making DSJ part of the team’s long term plan, it will need to assess how he fits alongside rookie Killian Hayes and any potential draft picks in the offseason. Smith Jr. will become an unrestricted free agent unless the Pistons make him a qualifying offer after the season.

But for now, the plan is to acquire and develop talent.

For the remainder of this year, Dennis Smith Jr. can grab the reigns of this young team if he chooses to do so. We can worry about fit later.