Detroit Pistons: Do over of 2020 NBA Draft

Looking back, we can see a lot of things from a different perspective. Here, we are going to be Captain Hindsight and look at the 2020 NBA Draft, in which the Detroit Pistons had three picks in the top 19.

Knowing what we know now, who would they have selected?

Hypothetically, if Detroit had a second chance to make it draft picks right now, who would general manager Troy Weaver select?

Would he keep the same three? Or maybe switch it up?

Drafting 19 and 20-year-olds, and those from foreign countries, is a very inexact science.

Remember, besides seeing how all the rookies have performed, the Pistons are a different team than the the November, 2020 version, when the draft was held.

Detroit was led by two former MVPs in Blake Griffin and Derrick Rose. They had signed two reserves from the Denver Nuggets, forward Jerami Grant and center Mason Plumlee, but who knew how much of a contribution they would make?

The Pistons were hoping two young players who had looked promising the previous season, forward Sekou Doumbouya and guard Svi Mykhailiuk, would continue to develop.

The November Pistons are obviously a far different team than the one playing in May.

Weaver cleaned house, only Doumbouya remains from last year’s team, and he has, mostly, been only the 9th or 10th player in the rotation.

The rookies (including second round pick Saben Lee) have done well overall.

But could the Pistons, in hindsight, have done even better?

2020 Detroit Pistons NBA Re-Draft

"Adam Silver: With the 7th pick in the NBA Draft the Detroit Pistons select:"

Tyrese Haliburton

That Tyrese Haliburton was not picked until No. 12 by Sacramento was surprising at the time of the draft, and it is no less puzzling with the season almost over.

(Actually due to a hyperextended knee, Haliburton’s season ended on May 5)

The 6-foot-5 guard out of Iowa State was considered one of the top guard prospects in the draft. More than a few mock drafts had him going to the Pistons at No. 7.

As we know, Detroit took Killian Hayes instead. Due to a hip injury, Hayes missed three months of the season, so no evaluation of him as a player can really be made, yet.

But Haliburton had a large body of work with the Kings,  and anyone would have to say, if graded, it would be A+.

A lock to make the first team NBA All-Rookie team, Haliburton was able to make an impact even on a guard-heavy team like Sacramento.

And do not think Haliburton has forgotten about how, on draft day, he was selected later than expected.

What has been most impressive about Haliburton is the completeness of his game for a rookie.

He can score, averaging 13 points a game (third among rookies) but also is an accomplished passer, his 5.3 assists is second-best among first-year players.

Even more impressive is the value in Haliburton’s offense.

He is shooting 47.2% from the field and 41% on three-pointers. He also is money at the foul line, nailing 85.7% of his free throws.

In the week before he got hurt, Haliburton averaged 17 points, 8.2 assists, 3 rebounds and 1.2 steals. The Kings are not much for playing defense, but he is not one of the worst defenders.

So why did Haliburton fall all the way to No. 12? There are a couple reasons.

His all-around ability might have hurt him. A combo guard, those teams looking for a pure shooter or ballhandler might have passed on him.

Some teams picking right before the Kings were obviously looking for post players, not for guards.

And Haliburton’s funky-looking shot might have made teams shy away from him. It might have worked in college, but won’t in the NBA, they thought.

Of course, they thought wrong.

Based on this season, Tyrese Haliburton would have been the best choice for Detroit.

With the No. 16 pick in the NBA Draft, the Detroit Pistons select:

Saddiq Bey

Wait a second! You might be thinking, Saddiq Bey is with the Detroit Pistons.

True, but Bey came to the Motor City at No. 19, after general manager Troy Weaver pulled off his second draft-day trade.

Bey almost literally fell in the Pistons lap at No. 19. Almost no mock draft had the 6-7 Villanova product falling that far. Most had him going in the mid- to early teens.

Bey has certainly proved the mockers correct and the professional NBA personnel people wrong.

He is also a lock for first team All-NBA Rookie team.

After a bit of a rough start (at first he shied away from taking anything but a three-pointer), Bey has turned into a dangerous scorer.

He still takes twice as many threes than twos but his shooting percentage of 45% on two-pointers makes him a threat to score anywhere on the floor. That was not the case at the beginning of the season.

He also is a great foul shooter (85.3%), so, as he learns the art of drawing fouls (i.e. flopping) in the future, he will be even more of a scoring threat.

Bey has been a record-setter from beyond the arc. With the increased distance on three-pointers from college to the pros, it usually takes rookies a period of adjustment, but not with Bey.

He is not only shooting 39% on three-pointers, but at a high volume. So high, he is setting records:

When you are passing Steph Curry in the record books, that is saying something.

Being a Villanova player, Bey already was well-schooled in the fundamentals of the game.

He is not a great athlete (which is why, in the real world, he dropped to No. 19), but he rarely gets beat on defense.

Coach Dwane Casey trusts him enough to be the only rookie starting when they faced the No. 1 team in the East, the Philadelphia 76ers, near the end of the season.

That is why the Pistons could not gamble that Bey would be available at No. 19, he needed to be taken at No. 16.

The pick at No. 19 for the Detroit Pistons is: Tyrese Maxey (or Isaiah Stewart)

With no summer league, a truncated training camp and very little practice time during the season due to the compressed schedule, rookies have had little time to get acclimated to their new life as professional basketball players.

Even on teams like the Detroit Pistons, with no playoff expectations, it took a while for the four rookies to get their bearings and become real contributors.

In the team’s opener against Minnesota, no rookie played except Killian Hayes. Coach Dwane Casey admitted Hayes was handed the starting spot because they hoped it would help his development (Note: It did not).

It was even harder for rookies on contending teams to find a place in the rotation. Unlike the Pistons, they are not interested in nurturing and developing talent. They care about winning _ and right now.

There is only one rookie playing a decent amount of time on a championship contender (we are not talking a playoff team, a team given a legitimate chance to win it all).

Philadelphia 76ers guard Tyrese Maxey.

He was expected to go in the mid to late teens of the first round, but the 6-foot-2 guard was, somehow, still around when the Sixers name came up at No. 21 and they grabbed him.

Even though Sixers coach Doc Rivers has a reputation of hating to play rookies, Maxey’s play has given him no choice.

Maxey first came to notice in the 10th game of the season against the Denver Nuggets. With the roster depleted due to health & safety protocols, Maxey scored 39 points against one of the top teams in the Western Conference.

When asked afterward what he learned about Maxey from that game, Rivers replied, “I learned he could score 39 points”.

The 39 points was part of a six-game tear in which Maxey never scored less than 12 points.

With Ben Simmons, Seth Curry and Shake Milton pretty solidly in the lineup as the main guards, plus the addition at the trade deadline of George Hill, Maxey’s playing time was up and down.

Per 36 minutes, which on a rebuilding team like Detroit he might have gotten, Maxey averages 18.6 points a game.

Put it another way, among the 60 players drafted in 2020, Maxey is 14th in total points, but 19th in minutes played.

Maxey’s biggest fault right now is his three-point shooting, only 29.2% on the season. But he is an excellent foul shooter, so that shooting percentage should go up in future seasons.

A backcourt of Tyrese Haliburton and Tyrese Maxey would have been an exciting and productive one for the Pistons.

Don’t forget Beef Stew!

Maxey is the definite choice if one thinks Detroit does not need much help in the front court.

With Mason Plumlee and Jahlil Okafor as the centers and Jerami Grant and Sekou Doumbouya at power forward., that might not be the Twin Towers of Blake Griffin and Andre Drummond, but it is an adequate frontline.

If the Pistons luck into USC center Evan Mobley in this year’s draft, their center position should be set for the next 10 years.

But, if GM Troy Weaver wants to help the frontcourt after drafting two guards, there is, at No. 19, only one choice:

‘With the 19th pick in the NBA Draft, the Detroit Pistons select. … Isaiah Stewart of Washington’.

We all have seen and been impressed by the 6-8, 250-pound Stewart, so we are not going into details on his game. This Tweet sums it up nicely:

Stewart would definitely be the choice, even with what we know now about the rest of the draftees, if Detroit wanted a big at 19.

Conclusion

So, if Troy Weaver could step into a time machine and with his knowledge of the present, do something different in the 2020 NBA Draft?

Somewhat.

The jury is out on Killian Hayes due to injury, but he is trending upward. Tyrese Haliburton is just already upward.

Weaver’s pick of Bey has been more than validated. Getting him at No. 19 turns out to be a great bargain.

Stewart has been fine and definitely a solid addition to the frontcourt. Maxey just might become an incandescent talent in the future.

But not a single bust in the trio Detroit did take. Other teams, with higher selections, can not say the same.