10 biggest disappointments during Pistons’ 10-game losing streak
Detroit Pistons’ 10 biggest disappointments
Trey Lyles is terrible
I didn’t expect Lyles to be an All-Star for the Pistons this season, but I did think he’d be a decent 3rd big. He’s been forced into expanded action because of the Olynyk injury and has been exposed big time. He does not have a usable NBA skill, as he can’t shoot, defend, rebound or do anything really. Last night he had to play more because of foul trouble with Beef Stew and was obliterated by the Wizards’ bigs, making Kyle Kuzma, Montrezl Harrell and Daniel Gafford look like prime Wilt Chamberlain. The Wizards finished the game with 52 points in the paint and Gafford had six blocked shots, half of them on Lyles.
Lyles is not only bad but he makes the kind of bonehead mental errors that you do not expect from a veteran. Late in the 3rd quarter last night, Lyles got the ball in the paint and was open for a split second and could have just dunked it, but instead pump faked about 75 times, got blocked by just about every player on the Wizards (he was fouled too but the refs were letting things go) and then picked up a stupid technical foul on the other end.
It was a five point swing in a close game and you just can’t compound errors by picking up technicals like that.
Watching the Lyles, Cory Joseph two-man game (yes it happened!) in the 3rd quarter made me want to adjust my TV to make sure I didn’t accidentally put the game on slow motion. CoJo and Lyles driving to the rim makes me physically ill but lights up the eyes of the shot blockers, so at least they are being kind to the other team.
Cory Joseph still playing
CoJo seems like a nice guy, but why in the world was he out there for the final play of overtime last night? In fact, why is he out there at all? I have no problem playing veterans over young guys and making the young guys earn it, but how about making Joseph earn it? I would love an explanation of what he’s done to earn minutes. It’s not like the Pistons have a ton of options but at least Saben Lee has some amount of upside.
Isaiah Stewart’s scoring
Stewart is averaging just 7.6 points per game this season, which is less than he averaged in his rookie year. He has only scored in double digits three times over the last 10 games. Stewart does a lot of things well, but an NBA starter has to score more than seven points per game unless that person is Ben Wallace and Stewart ain’t Ben Wallace. Part of the Pistons’ scoring woes are that they have two starters who don’t score in Stewart and Killian Hayes. I love Beef Stew and do think he can be the defensive anchor of this team, but at some point he needs some sort of offensive game. I thought he’d add a jumper to his arsenal this season but he is shooting them even less frequently than last year.