Detroit Pistons 2021 NBA Draft: 5 Isolation scorers the Pistons could target

Looking around at this draft class I seem to notice a player type that is peeking its head back in the door of the NBA Draft discussion: isolation scorers. The Detroit Pistons definitely need scoring and could target such a player to get it in the NBA Draft.

Isolation Scorers to me are usually guards and wings whose main (and sometimes ONLY) job is to score. They need to have the ball on almost every possession. They are not asked to be efficient. And defense is 100 percent optional due to their high amount of responsibility teams shoulder them with on offense.

Really the term comes from the “play” being run for this player to be an isolation play. What this means is that the ball is given to the iso scorer, his teammates spread out and clear the court so the defenders stick to them and not the iso scorer, then the iso guy does his thing and gets a bucket.

It is much more complex than that as certain offenses like the Triangle can be built to accentuate iso scorers, but this is the basic concept. Clear out, give the guy the ball, let him go to work. This was a premier player type in the early to mid 2000s as guys like Allen Iverson, Tracy McGrady, Gilbert Arenas, and the Mamba himself ran the league by just letting everyone know they had they ball and to get out of their way (teammates included sometimes!).

Even though we now know the Detroit Pistons will be selecting first—and that most likely means Cade Cunningham will be a Piston(!!!!!)—I thought it would be useful to analyze the guys I think profile as iso scorers and see if there may be other skills they bring to the table to complement Cade…I mean, the top pick whoever that may be.

Some of these guys may be available in the 2nd round and some may require a trade up. After breaking each guys game down I will talk about where each is projected to go and who the team should target based on their skills and potential draft position.