Pistons draft: Green or Mobley? What Detroit should do with the #2 pick
Detroit Pistons: Jalen Green will be a great scorer, but can he be more?
Jalen Green enters the draft as possibly the class’s best scorer. In 15 games with the G-League Ignite, Green averaged 17.9 points per contest while shooting 46.1 percent from the floor and 36.5 percent from beyond the arc.
If there is one thing the Pistons desperately need, it is scoring. Detroit averaged 106.6 points per game last season, ranking them 27th in the league.
Green instantly offers Detroit a secondary scoring option behind forward Jerami Grant. As he develops his game in the coming seasons, the 19-year-old could be the teams leading scorer on an annual basis.
Green is already a respectable shooter from three-point range. 36.5 percent is around league average. If he can improve his efficiency from beyond the arc, and within it too, the 6-6 guard could become one of the league’s most lethal scorers.
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Green does have a lot to improve beyond just being a scoring threat.
The 19-year-old lacks a strong defensive presence. He is by no means a terrible defender, but he does need to improve his play on the defensive end of the floor. This is an area that Pistons’ coach Dwane Casey should be able to work with Green on improving.
Playmaking is another area Green needs to improve as well. Green averaged 2.8 assists while turning the ball over 2.7 times per game. If Green can cut down on the turnovers and dish out a few more assists and secondary assists on a nightly basis, he could become a decent playmaker as a non-primary ball handler.
Shooting guard is a position of need for the Pistons and Green slots right into Detroit’s starting rotation. The Pistons’ lineup would look something along the lines of Killian Hayes, Jalen Green, Saddiq Bey, Jerami Grant, and either Isaiah Stewart or Mason Plumlee.
Positional need is not the end all be all regarding draft selections, especially within the top three. Detroit should not be selecting Green simply because he is a shooting guard. However, Green fills a lot of needs beyond just being a two-guard. Most importantly, he is a scorer. That aspect will factor heavily into Detroit’s decision on whether to draft him or not.