The Detroit Pistons were obliterated by the Memphis Grizzlies in the second preseason game and there weren’t many positives.
The Pistons had 23 turnovers and 24 fouls to only 17 assists, which pretty much summarizes how this night went.
You can expect the Pistons to have nights like this, as they are young and still not a legit playoff contender even though they have some high-ceiling talent.
This will lead to inconsistency, so the Detroit Pistons are going to look great one night only to look embarrassingly bad the next. It’s going to be an up and down year so prepare.
With Cade Cunningham still out with an injury, the Pistons were shorthanded but that’s no excuse for the lack of effort and intensity we saw last night.
Here are some good and ugly things from this game, starting with some ugly.
Detroit Pistons: Isaiah Stewart hacking
The Pistons racked up five fouls in under two minutes in the first quarter, two of them by starting center Isaiah Stewart.
I was hoping Ben Wallace could impart some advice on this skill, as unlike Beef Stew, Big Ben was a master at defending hard without fouling.
If Stewart is going to be the starting center, he has to cut these silly fouls out of his game, as the Pistons can’t start every game losing a starter early and forcing Kelly Olynyk to play huge minutes at the five.
Stewart did have three blocks in his 15 minutes of play, but can’t continue to pick up fouls away from the rim, as it takes him out of the game, breaks up his rhythm and screws with the Pistons’ rotation.
Detroit Pistons: Killian Hayes was more aggressive in his return
One good thing that came out of this ugly game was that Killian Hayes returned from a minor injury and made his debut.
He didn’t have a good shooting night, ending just 2-of-9, but there were some positive signs.
Hayes got into the lane repeatedly and found open shots, which he didn’t hesitate to take even though he didn’t make many of them.
He also was able to find teammates without hesitation after getting into the paint, but they didn’t make shots either.
Not making shots was the theme of the night, as the Pistons shot just 42 percent from the field and 25 percent from 3-point range.
But Hayes was more aggressive, which is something we’ve been asking for since last season, and even though he didn’t hit the shots, it was good to see him pulling up without hesitation and mostly making quick decisions with the ball.
He also stepped into catch-and-shoot 3-point shot and looked very comfortable as he drained it.
If you are scouring for positives from this game, Hayes’ return and aggression looking for his shot is all I can offer.
Detroit Pistons: Speedy point guards are going to be a problem
I wrote yesterday that how the Pistons handled Ja Morant was going to tell us a lot, as they don’t really have the personnel to keep up with speedy point guards.
Both Killian Hayes and Cade Cunningham are more or less point guards in small forward’s bodies, and though their size will be an advantage on offense, they are going to have trouble staying in front of fast point guards, as neither has blazing speed.
Hayes did a pretty good job on Morant at times, but Ja mostly got wherever he wanted on the floor, which led to a whole lot of easy shots for Memphis.
Morant finished the game with 24 points and five assists in just over 26 minutes and pretty much controlled the speed and pace of the game.
He blew by the Pistons’ defenders with ease most of the night and got into the lane for runners or easy dump offs to his bigs.
This is going to be something to watch all season, as the Pistons have a lot of lanky wings but not so much speed.
It was an ugly night for the Detroit Pistons that ended with a Saddiq Bey injury, so it couldn’t have been much worse. Luckily it is only the preseason and there is another game coming soon, so the Pistons can forget and move onto the next one.