Isaiah Stewart has become Detroit Pistons best prospect

With the addition of a three-point shot, Detroit Pistons rookie Isaiah Stewart has propelled himself into rare company, the sort of company that makes him the Pistons best young prospect.

Isaiah Stewart arrived in the league with two NBA ready skills, and they were intimately connected: A high motor, and offensive rebounding. From Day One. both abilities have served him well.

Almost all of his impact on the game has come from one of those two places. His high motor gets him easy buckets in transition and also cuts to the hoop against unsuspecting defenders. His rebounding on the offensive end is tenacious and unrelenting, and his defensive activity has gone a distance towards covering up for his rookie mistakes and lack of size.

Detroit Pistons’ Isaiah Stewart is a double threat

These are wonderful aspects for a young player and the Detroit Pistons should be glad to have drafted him. The issue was that it wasn’t clear how he could grow into a player that was more than a low-minutes, role-player. As much fun as ‘Beef Stew’ has been, his rookie season production has mirrored that of countless high-energy big-men who are pulled off the street. He had to find a way to stand out.

In a shocking twist, it appears that Stewarts’ stand-out ability is going to be a three-point shot. There was some hope for Stewart as a shooter entering the season.

While he shot almost no long shots in college (and hit just 25% of the few he did take) but he did take some jumpers and showed a decent form. But to emphasize the fact that he took almost no threes as a college freshman, there was little thought that he could start taking three-pointers as a 19-year-old rookie, let alone hit them.

Small sample size?

Yes of course the sample-size is tiny but let us have this.