With the 52nd pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, the Detroit Pistons selected Luka Garza, center from the University of Iowa.
The 22-year-old Garza comes to the Pistons after spending four years as the starting center for the Iowa Hawkeyes. Garza was a dominant big man in college. In his four years, Garza averaged 18.2 points and 7.3 rebounds in 27.1 minutes per game. In his senior year, the center tallied 24.1 points per game, his collegiate career-high.
Along with his career-high scoring output, Garza also put up his best three-point shooting numbers in his senior year. The big man shot 44 percent from beyond the arc on 3.2 attempts per game in his final season with the Hawkeyes.
Garza is looking to translate his three-point shooting into the NBA. One need not look any further than the father of the 22-year-old’s Twitter account to see the work Garza is putting in on his outside shot.
Detroit Pistons: Luka Garza should model his game on Brook Lopez
The big man’s ability to stretch the floor will be key to his playing future. In the modern NBA, having centers and power forwards who can stretch the floor is becoming more and more of a necessity for rosters.
Take Brook Lopez for example. For the first eight years of the veteran center’s career, he never averaged above 0.2 three-point attempts in a single season. One of those seasons, 2012-12 included an All-Star appearance.
As the tides of the NBA turned away from post play and towards the stretch big, Lopez adjusted. Since the 2016-17 season, the 33-year-old has averaged five shots from beyond the arc per game, sinking 34.4 percent of them.
Like Lopez, Garza is not going to find his success as a post player in today’s NBA. The three-point era simply does not allow for it.
As Garza develops and fights for a roster spot with the Pistons, the big man is going to show off his shooting abilities from beyond the arc. And he will find no better way to show off his shooting than at the Summer League.