Saddiq Bey had an outstanding season for the Detroit Pistons that should end with a spot on the All-Rookie team.
Considering he was chosen 19th in the NBA Draft, there are a whole lot of teams that wish they could have a do-over and draft Bey.
He not only played great perimeter defense across several positions but was one of the best rookie 3-point shooters of all time, narrowly missing the mark for most made 3-pointers by a rookie due to the shortened season.
The most impressive thing about Bey was his consistency, as he never gave up his starting spot once earning it and just kept going out and putting up numbers every night.
Many rookies hit the “wall” in their first season, but this never happened to Saddiq Bey, who just kept getting stronger as the season went on.
To celebrate his successful rookie season, let’s take a look back at Saddiq Bey’s five best games.
Detroit Pistons: Saddiq Bey showing he’s better than Luke Kennard
If the Los Angles Clippers could do the 2020 NBA Draft over, they almost certainly would not have traded Saddiq Bey for Luke Kennard.
Kennard was disappointing on the Clippers this season and didn’t even play in their first playoff loss, not a good sign for a team that just splashed out $16 million per season for the guy.
Bey showed them on April 11th that this move was a mistake, scoring 25 points and adding four steals in the loss while hitting 5-of-8 from long range.
Bey is already better than Kennard, which has to annoy the Clippers, who thought they were trading away a low-ceiling 3-and-D prospect for an elite shooter and instead got one of the most overpaid bench players in the league.
It’s nice to have the Detroit Pistons on the right side of a move like this for once.
Detroit Pistons: Saddiq Bey serves notice in Milwaukee
The Milwaukee Bucks trounced the Pistons early in the season but Saddiq Bey served noticed that he was a player to be reckoned with.
Bey scored 20 points and added 10 rebounds in the loss, for his first double-double of the season. It was about this point that Pistons’ fans started to get excited that we might have something special in Bey.
This was also the first game that Bey made six 3-pointers, which became a theme on the season and one of the many rookie records he would break before it was over.
Detroit Pistons: Saddiq Bey comes up big in loss to Orlando
The Pistons’ loss to Orlando on May 3rd was a blessing, as it helped them retain the second-worst record in the NBA, so this was not a game the Pistons really wanted to win.
Someone forgot to tell Saddiq Bey, who scored 26 points and added nine rebounds and two steals while shooting 5-of-10 from long range.
Bey did not slow down as the season wound down, scoring in double-digits in nine of his last ten games of the season and scoring over 20 in five of them.
Detroit Pistons: Saddiq Bey carries Detroit over Toronto
The best two games of Saddiq Bey’s season came in wins over Eastern Conference rivals. The first was on March 17 against the Toronto Raptors, a team the Pistons dominated this season, beating them in all three games.
Bey was outstanding in this one, notching 28 points while grabbing 12 rebounds and hitting 6-of-10 from long range.
Ho hum, another night of six made 3-pointers for Bey, who was one of the best high-volume 3-point shooters in the league this season.
Detroit Pistons: A sweet win over the hated Celtics
I absolutely HATE the Boston Celtics, so getting a win over them behind strong play from a rookie was pretty sweet, especially considering the Celtics are definitely one of the teams who might draft Saddiq Bey if they could do it again.
Bey was unbelievable in the win over the Celtics on February 12th and looked like the best rookie in the league, scoring 30 points and adding 12 rebounds while shooting 7-of-7 from the 3-point line.
The rookie literally couldn’t miss as the Pistons got one of their most satisfying wins of the season while angering the Celtics’ mob, making it even sweeter.
Bey had one of the best rookie seasons in Pistons’ history and will go down as one of the biggest steals of the 2020 NBA Draft.