Detroit Pistons: Killian Hayes doesn’t need to score to be elite

Throughout the middle of the season, NBA writers, Twitter lurkers, and ill-informed  Detroit Pistons fans were rushing to label 7th overall pick Killian Hayes a bust. The young guard was injured, and spent most of the shortened season rehabbing, and took a long road to recover, avoiding surgery.

It looks like he has returned to his raw and talented form.

Killian Hayes may never be an elite scoring threat, but that’s okay. Some of the best guards to play the game never led their teams in scoring, but offered value elsewhere.

Currently, Hayes is shooting 34.8 percent from the floor and under 25 percent from deep. Not great numbers, but his passing is making up for it. 

Detroit Pistons: Killian Hayes doesn’t have to score to contribute

Hayes has the third-best assist numbers on the team behind Cory Joseph and Delon Wright. His turnover rate is rather high, admittedly, as he averages about two and a half a game.

While the turnovers and shooting are less than ideal, his court vision, perimeter defense and the natural talent he has brought this year show a bright future to come.

Scoring is the most important aspect of the game, and Hayes has not shown himself to be a high-volume bucket getter. But he does help the other players around him.

I’ve written before that my ideal lineup next year would include scorers like Saddiq Bey and Jerami Grant, with the interior defense of Isaiah Stewart. The  Detroit Pistons will have a high draft pick this year, so they could add a scorer like Cade Cunningham or Jalen Suggs. My darkhorse pick is Johnny Juzang, which would add elite shooting from anywhere.

Throw Hayes in the mix, and all of a sudden he’s averaging double-digit assists and facilitating the ball around. Shooters like Bey and Juzang could rain threes, and when defenses start to close out, Stewart and Grant offer some low post scoring.

Hayes himself has plus size and could easily become a slasher, driving past defenses who guard the three heavily. Once in the paint, he could put it up himself, dump it off to Stewart, or kick it out to any of the shooters Detroit will hopefully surround him with during next year’s season.

Hayes could be a ball-dominant point guard who doesn’t need to put up high volume scoring to be effective. Detroit just needs to build around him where they can.