Detroit Pistons: 3 NBA stars Killian Hayes should study this offseason
Detroit Pistons: Chris Paul can teach Killian Hayes ball security without sacrificing passing creativity
Killian Hayes is already the best facilitator on the Detroit Pistons’ roster. The 19-year-old showed a propensity for making great passes through traffic, on above the basket lobs, and across the court.
Most notably the rookie made a great cross-court pass against the Oklahoma City Thunder in which he threaded the needle between two defenders to set up fellow rookie Saddiq Bey with an easy layup.
Hayes is a creative passer, and he has a good knack for finding the open man when he kicks the ball out after driving to the basket, but the rookie struggled with ball security last year. Hayes averaged 3.2 turnovers on the season while only throwing out 5.3 assists per game. An assist to turnover ratio of 1.66.
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The lefty needs to improve his ball security as he enters year two of his NBA career, but at the same time, the Detroit Pistons do not want to sacrifice too much of the creative passing that Killian Hayes flashed during his rookie season.
If Hayes wants to improve his ball security, there is no better NBA player to study than Chris Paul.
The 36-year-old Paul is known around the league as one of the best passers in NBA history. Paul is also one of the smartest players in NBA history as well. The current Phoenix Sun uses the combination of his intelligence and his passing savvy to dominate the game.
Paul has the second-highest assist to turnover ratio in NBA history with a ratio of 3.92, he trails the 5-3 Muggsy Bogues who has an absurd 4.69 assist to turnover ratio. Paul has led the league in assists per game four times in his career and averages 9.4 assists per game through 16 seasons in the NBA.
Hayes can learn a lot by watching the way CP3 facilitates on offense. Paul is a very ball-dominant guard, and while he can occasionally hold onto the ball for too long, he is very rarely ever stripped or intercepted on his passes. The 6-0 point guard knows which passes he can make and which he needs to avoid.
Additionally, Paul is great at making the pass that leads to the assist. Paul plays basketball like it is a chess match. He sees multiple moves ahead on offense and anticipates his opponent’s moves. This style of play makes it easy for him to set up passes that will lead to a wide-open player being available for a second or even third pass after Paul initiated the offense.
Studying any aspect of Chris Paul’s game would go a long way towards Hayes’ development. The defense, the playmaking, and leadership are all aspects of Hayes’ game he could improve by studying Paul.
Regarding passing and ball security specifically, if Hayes can pick up some of the traits and qualities that CP3 demonstrates on a game-by-game basis, the young point guard could go from the best passer on the Pistons to one of the best facilitators in the entire league.