The Detroit Pistons lost four of their five games last week as the race to the bottom continues.
The Pistons are now four games “ahead” of Cleveland for the worst record in the East, but still lag a game “behind” the Timberwolves for the worst record overall.
There were some positives this week, particularly the play of the young point guards, who stepped up after Delon Wright went down with injury.
Both Dennis Smith Jr. and Saben Lee had decent weeks but it’s too early to say what they are doing is a trend, we need to see a bit more.
Smith Jr. was particularly impressive and will hopefully make the Knicks regret the Derrick Rose trade at some point in the future.
We’re not there yet, especially after the Knicks blew the Pistons out last night, much to the delight of their fans, who think being a game over .500 in the awful East is akin to winning a title.
I can’t blame them, as neither franchise has been even that good for so long it must feel like a parade is necessary. Have fun, New York.
So I’d put Lee, Smith Jr. in the “pending” category, as they look to be heading up but need another week of solid play. Same with Sekou Doumbouya, who hasn’t played well but I’m not ready to throw the 20-year-old into the “trending down” category just yet, as he still hasn’t played much, even with Blake Griffin gone.
Let’s start with two guys who are trending up, and considering they are both rookies, the Detroit Pistons have to be somewhat happy even though the week overall was filled with losses.
Detroit Pistons: Isaiah Stewart keeps getting better
Rookie Isaiah Stewart has been trending up after the last five games.
He’s had three games in a row with double-digit rebounds and over the last five games has eight blocks and five steals on the defensive end.
He is now third overall in rebounding for rookies and fourth in blocked shots, not bad for a guy who is coming off the bench and playing 18 minutes per game on average.
Beef Stew played 28 minutes against the Knicks and should continue to get more as the season progresses.
Detroit Pistons: Saddiq Bey is the model of consistency
Saddiq Bey just keeps chugging along, racking up double digit scoring totals and shooting the ball better than just about any rookie in the NBA.
Bey has now scored in double-digits ten games in a row and 11 out of his last 12 overall. He is also grabbing 5.5 rebounds per game during that stretch and is now averaging four overall for the season.
There is a good chance that Bey is going to end up averaging over 10 points and five rebounds while shooting 40 percent or better from the 3-point line, numbers that exceed a lot of expectations people had for Bey coming into the season.
Troy Weaver appears to have found a rookie whose floor is a solid 3-and-D wing for the next decade.
Now for two guys who are trending the other way.
Detroit Pistons: Wayne Ellington has lost the magic from 3-point range
If Wayne Ellington were a stock, investors would be crawling over each other trying to sell at this point.
After a red-hot start in which he briefly led the NBA in 3-point percentage, Ellington has fallen off the map.
He did have 15 points on 4-of-6 from behind the arc against the Knicks, so hopefully this trend is changing, but prior to that Ellington couldn’t hit anything.
In his previous 11 games, Ellington was 11-of-57 from the 3-point line for a whopping 19 percent. Yikes.
The Detroit Pistons were never going to get much for Ellington in a trade but now it might not even be possible to get rid of him. Let’s hope Ellington can find the touch again before the trade deadline.
Detroit Pistons: Josh Jackson’s 3-point shooting
Josh Jackson has not payed terribly overall for the Detroit Pistons, as he always brings energy on the defensive end and his offensive game does not rely completely on 3-point shooting.
Nor should it because Jackson is pretty terrible at shooting them. Over the last ten games, Jackson is shooting 19.4 percent from 3-point range but that hasn’t stopped him from jacking up 36 of them, far too many for a guy who has never really been good from there.
This is something Jackson will need to improve over time, as teams are just going to continue to sag off him as long as under 30 percent, which he currently is.
Jackson has been a nice find overall but this high-volume, low-percentage 3-point shooting needs to stop.
Nothing has changed for the Detroit Pistons, who are still trying to tank their way to a franchise-altering talent and doing a heck of a job at this point, with only nine wins overall.