After a slow start to the season, Isaiah Stewart has really been coming on for the Detroit Pistons.
Stewart has been criticized by fans this season for his lack of offensive development, as he still can’t hit a jumper consistently and isn’t great in the pick-and-roll.
Stewart was asked to be the defensive anchor of the Pistons, and I do think that took a toll on his offense, as Detroit has been undersized all season, leaving Stewart to defend the paint on his own.
There are still questions of whether he will ultimately be a starting center in the NBA, or if a move to the bench or even to power forward is in the cards sometime in the future, but I do think Stewart has proven that he can go toe-to-toe with just about anyone defensively.
His offense is still a work in progress, but Stewart’s presence on the court is felt even when he isn’t scoring. He’s even been doing more of that lately, coming on down the stretch and looking more like a core piece of the future.
Detroit Pistons: Isaiah Stewart stepping up down the stretch
Stewart has strung together some of his best defensive games of the season, but his scoring is starting to come around as well.
Over the last eight games, Stewart has scored in double-digits six times and is averaging 11.1 points, 10.6 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game over that time.
He’s not shooting 3-pointers as much as some of us thought he would, but Stewart has launched them when open and is not hesitating like he was early in the season when it seemed like he had been banned from shooting the ball.
Stewart’s field goal attempts have ticked up to nine per game in this recent stretch, and he looks more comfortable shooting the ball off the catch.
Cade Cunningham, Saddiq Bey and Killian Hayes have gotten most of the attention this season, but Stewart has slowly been improving on both ends after putting in the work all year.