The Detroit Pistons got Killian Hayes back just in time to get throttled by the New York Knicks in an embarrassing blowout.
The Pistons never had a lead in this one and were down by as many as 47, which made it easy to turn over and watch Jalen Suggs carry his Gonzaga team to the NCAA Finals.
So is this what real tanking looks like? If so, I want no part of it, as the Pistons were flat-out horrible and not the competitive bunch we’ve seen for most of the season.
There wasn’t much positive but let’s start with the return of Killian Hayes and his passing.
Detroit Pistons: Killian Hayes is back!
The one positive from this game was the return of Killian Hayes, which is something most of us didn’t think we would see this season.
Hayes came off the bench for 20 minutes of action and missed all three of his shots, though he did add five rebounds and three assists.
Hayes has not shown much this season, but one thing is for certain: he might already be the best passer on the team.
He threw this laser dime through traffic, which is something he’s done several times this season.
He also played quite a lot off the ball, which will be something to watch over the last 23 games, as the Detroit Pistons could very well draft a point guard and might be experimenting with moving Hayes around on the perimeter.
What I’d really like to see is Killian Hayes get some level of comfort with the speed of the NBA game, to build some confidence and to spend the offseason working on his game, which definitely needs some refinement.
He still looks hesitant at times, but that will hopefully go away as he gets more reps. It was a game the Pistons would like to forget but getting Hayes back is really more important.
Detroit Pistons: The Pistons’ offense sucks
Sorry, but there is really no other way to say it.
Troy Weaver has done an admirable job finding versatile defenders and undervalued talent but it would be nice if any of them could score.
The Pistons entire starting lineup was outscored by Julius Randle in the first quarter, which is, well, not good.
The Pistons are now 24th in the NBA in scoring and have been even worse over their last ten games in which they failed to even score 100 points three times and barely got over 100 twice.
Jerami Grant led the Pistons with 16 points and it took him 13 shots to get them. He was one of only three Pistons to even crack double-digits, as they shot a miserable 35 percent as a team.
There are a lot of reasons for the offensive struggles, not the least of which is the Pistons’ constant juggling of lineups and minutes so that no one really knows how much they’ll be playing or when.
But another part of it is just that the Pistons lack offensive talent. Grant has never been thought of as a legit #1 scoring option because he isn’t. The rest of the Pistons are young and/or streaky so Weaver really needs to bring in some professional scorers who are consistent.
The Detroit Pistons are rebuilding around defense, which I love, but at some point you have to be able to score more than 81 points in an NBA game in 2021, as this is not the Goin’ to Work era anymore.
Detroit Pistons: Dwane Casey needs to tighten the rotation
A lot of fans of the Detroit Pistons are excited that they have “so much” young talent that they barely have time to play them all!
HA!
Good teams don’t play 14 guys unless they are blowing the other team out, yet last night the Pistons managed to use just about their entire roster.
It’s time for Dwane Casey to start making sense of the positional battles being waged on the Pistons and to choose some guys to get consistent minutes and roles.
How can he ever expect a player to get into a rhythm when they are getting 12 minutes one night, 35 the next and none the day after that?
Casey and Weaver need to sit down and decide which players are most important for the future of the team and to let those guys play. Choose 9-10 players and go with that for awhile to see what happens.
I get that this is a rebuilding year and the Pistons are trying some guys out for future roles, but at some point you have to see what they can do with real minutes.
Choose two of Saben Lee, Frank Jackson and Dennis Smith Jr. and sit the other guy. We don’t need to see Cory Joseph or Wayne Ellington again.
And can Sekou Doumbouya at least get off the bench in a 40-point blowout? What is the plan with him?
It’s time to focus on the guys who are going to be on the team next year and the players that need the most work, we are in the home stretch of the season, make some choices already.