The Detroit Pistons have gotten off to an 0-3 start and there have been some worrying trends.
The Pistons have shot the ball terribly, especially from long range and the half court offense has looked stagnant at times.
Some of this will be remedied by the return of Cade Cunningham, which will hopefully come when the Pistons get back from their current road trip.
There have been some bright spots, as Saddiq Bey has played well and the Pistons have held their own defensively even though they haven’t scored much.
One puzzling and curious part of the season so far is the play and minutes of Hamidou Diallo, who the Pistons re-signed over the offseason and who was thought to be a major part of the rotation.
So far, that has not been the case.
Detroit Pistons: Hamidou Diallo on the fringes of the rotation
Hamidou Diallo is averaging 4.7 points and less than a rebound and assist per game in just 13.3 minutes so far in the first three games of the season.
These numbers are the lowest since his rookie season, which is surprising considering many thought this would be the year when Diallo would break out and make a big impact off the Pistons’ bench.
So far he’s been pretty much buried in the rotation behind guys like Josh Jackson, Frank Jackson and Cory Joseph, who have all gotten significantly more run than Diallo so far this season.
Diallo has been relegated to the fringe of the rotation with guys like Luka Garza and Saben Lee, which I didn’t expect.
This is a somewhat troubling sign, as pretty much everyone except Saddiq Bey has been awful, so if Diallo can’t get minutes on this team, when will he? He’ll drop even further on the depth chart when Cade Cunningham returns, so even after three games I think it’s fair to wonder what Diallo’s role is going to be on this team.
The Pistons may eventually move on from Josh Jackson, who is on the final year of his deal, which could open more minutes for Hamidou Diallo, but his absence has been noticeable and curious considering how bad the Pistons have been to start the season.