Would Saddiq Bey benefit by coming off the bench?

Saddiq Bey has struggled with his shooting this season. Would a move to the bench be beneficial for him? Additionally, the move would also solve a logjam at small forward for the Detroit Pistons.

There are myriad problems the Pistons need to fix to improve as a team. One of them is kind  of out of their control: Saddiq Bey simply needs to shoot better.

The Villanova product was a virtual steal last year, after general manager Troy Weaver swung a trade involving Christian Wood (who was leaving anyhow) to get the 19th pick in the NBA Draft.

Bey set rookie scoring records and was a first team All-NBA Rookie selectio6,n in a very deep class. Showing such promise, Bey was picked for the USA Select team in the summer by USA Basketball. Due to injuries, Bey briefly was actually playing on the Olympic team, before it left for Japan.

All seemed good. Bey showed up for training camp packing some more muscle and working on other aspects of his game, to complement his already (we thought) fine three-point shooting.

In an excellent breakdown, Omari Sankofa of the Free Press (SUBSCRIPTION NEEDED) broke down Bey’s shooting woes in a recent article. In all three shooting categories, overall, two-point and three-point shooting percentages, Bey is down. His free throw percentage is even lower (84% to 74%) than last season..

But Detroit fans do not need to look up statistics, the eye test plainly shows Bey is not shooting as well as he did as a rookie, although his scoring average is about the same (12.2 last year, 12.3 now).

Sankofa cited analytics that Bey simply is not getting the easy catch-and-shoot attempts he did last year. With Blake Griffin, Derrick Rose, Jerami Grant and, later on, Wayne Ellington and Grant, Bey was not the focus of opposing defenses. He is now, and that makes his getting an open shot harder.

With the Pistons having less veteran weapons that other team’s have to worry about, coach Dwane Casey agrees that Bey is getting more attention when he tries to shoot.

It is not like Bey’s outside shooting prowess last year was some aberration. His final year at Villanova, he made 45.2% of his three-point attempts. He is a good outside shooter, he simply needs to find his rhythm.

It should also be pointed out that Bey has raised his average in rebounds, assists and steals, so he is helping the Pistons in other ways.

Saddiq Bey off the bench to relieve pressure?

Besides dealing with a shooting slump, Bey also has the additional burden of the Pistons having gotten off to awful starts in most of their games. If he is not hitting his shots, no one is picking up the slack.

Temporarily, maybe Bey should come off the bench. The pressure of being a starter would be gone and he would not be facing opponent’s top defenders. Bey also would be playing with solid shooters like Frank Jackson and Trey Lyles, so defense’s could not concentrate on running Bey off the three-point line.

With the second team not having Kelly Olynyk for a while, they could use another shooter.

Bey out of the starting lineup would also solve a lineup problem for coach Casey.

Josh Jackson and Hamidou Diallo are both athletic wings who play the same style. It is tough to have them both in the game at the same time. Casey has basically been flip-flopping them, one game Diallo plays and Jackson sits or plays little, the next time, Jackson is playing and Diallo sits (and he has made it clear he does not like sitting).

Jackson or Diallo in the starting lineup and Bey now on the second unit, would provide Detroit a more balanced rotation, at least until Olynyk returns.

This would not be the first time Bey was pulled from the starting lineup. Last season, until establishing himself in February, Casey had Bey in and out of the starting lineup all the time.

This should not be a permanent change? Bey is a part of the Pistons future and they need him to play like a solid starter.

Now, would Bey be happy about such a move? No, and he shouldn’t be. Who wants a player happy about not being a starter? However, in the short term, for the team, and Bey’s development, it might be the best move.