Detroit Pistons: A look back at an embarrassing Luke Kennard take

All fans of the Detroit Pistons have some “hot takes” they wish they could take back, or in my case scrubbed from the Internet forever.

But I am a person who likes to own up to them, especially when they can make me laugh. From Rodney Stuckey to Jason Maxiell to Andre Drummond, almost every Pistons’ fan has made an absurd statement that looks even more so with the advantage of hindsight.

Unfortunately, for those of use who write about the team, our takes are immortalized on the Internet and we can’t simply delete them and pretend it didn’t happen like you cowards on Twitter.

I doubt any Piston in history drew as many embarrassing takes as former Piston Luke Kennard, who Detroit inexplicably drafted 12th in the 2017 NBA Draft ahead of Donovan Mitchell, Bam Adebayo, John Collins, and OG Anunoby, giving the rest of the league a lesson in why you don’t let your coach be the GM. Thanks Stan Van Gundy!

SVG drafted for need instead of talent and the Detroit Pistons ended up with the worst pick in the 2017 lottery.

This was a pick that would haunt the Detroit Pistons for years to come, especially after watching Donovan Mitchell become a superstar and lead the Utah Jazz to the best record in the NBA this season. Luckily, the Pistons were finally able to trade Kennard for the rights to Saddiq Bey, who is already better.

It’s easy to laugh about it now that it has worked out for the Detroit Pistons, but there were some dark days when we tried to talk ourselves into Luke Kennard, which led to some hilariously bad takes.

Detroit Pistons: Belief in Luke Kennard was a mask for our collective pain

Missing out on a superstar in the NBA Draft is a fairly common occurrence for the Detroit Pistons, as they had done it two years prior, taking Stanley Johnson instead of Devin Booker.

But this one was even worse, as Donovan Mitchell became a star almost immediately while Luke Kennard, well, didn’t.

I am on record as HATING the Luke Kennard pick at the time and can’t stand Duke, but I still tried to talk myself into him.

Let’s face it, having some belief that Luke Kennard, a slow, un-athletic, soft shooter who looked like a 45-year-old man and already had the same knees, was a mask for our collective pain over missing out on Mitchell.

The Detroit Pistons were absolutely hopeless in this era, trapped between a rebuild and competing with one off the worst rosters in the NBA, so having some optimism around Kennard was literally all we had.

Which is what led to me comparing Kennard to Manu Ginobli and even laying out (a somewhat funny) plan for how Kennard could become the next Ginobli for the Detroit Pistons.

It was not my finest moment as a writer and seems pretty hilarious in retrospect, especially now that Kennard was barely able get off the bench for the Clippers, a team that was custom made to get him good looks and allow him to become the next Manu.

It turns out that the only things they have in common are being left-handed white dudes with receding hairlines.

Who knows, maybe some day Kennard will turn into that guy, but I am glad it is some other team’s fans who have to wait and hope for it to happen.

So what were your worst Kennard takes? Let us know in the comments or find us on Twitter so we can all laugh at ourselves and not just me.