Who are the long-term bench pieces for the Detroit Pistons?

Positives coming off the Detroit Pistons’ bench

Now, the bench unit has not been a complete dumpster fire. There’s a number of guys that have been performing up to expectations, and even some exceeding.

Frank Jackson stands out as a guy who, following a rather slow start, has been electric off the bench of late. His sweet shooting touch and impressive ability to beat defenders to the cup have been fully showcased, and it has resulted in some white-hot scoring performances. The extension he inked in the offseason is looking like another home run move by this front office.

Hamidou Diallo has also been solid when called upon. To start the season, Diallo was out of the rotation, and it seemed like Dwane Casey wasn’t too keen on opening those minutes back up for him. However, after a concerning exchange that led to Casey telling Hami to sit back down right after attempting to sub him in, his playing time and production have done a 180, and he’s taken control of the minutes previously reserved for Josh Jackson. Jackson still does some good things in his limited action, specifically on defense, but it’s clear that when he’s given the opportunity, this coaching staff values Hami’s skill set more than Josh’s.

While the bench frontcourt has been riddled with question marks in response to Olynyk’s injury, Trey Lyles has been in firm control of at least one of those spots. He’s been asked to play a lot of minutes at the five, as opposed to his more natural power forward position, and he’s been quite solid. The fanbase doesn’t always necessarily echo this notion, but Lyle’s ability to shoot, drive, draw contact, and push the ball in transition have resulted in some positive play, despite attempting more shots than a player of his caliber maybe should be taking at times.

Lyles has just been exposed by having to play too many minutes overall and far too many at center.