Detroit Pistons: 3 things Saddiq Bey needs to improve this offseason

Detroit Pistons: 3 things Saddiq Bey needs to improve

#2: Playmaking for others

After two seasons, Saddiq’s role as a scorer has been solidified. The former Villanova Wildcat continued to pose problems for defenses in his sophomore season in the NBA.

Now in year three, with defenses more likely to shift their attention towards containing him, Bey will have a legitimate chance to improve his playmaking skills, and should find consistent opportunities to create shots for others.

While he likely won’t ever be a top-level playmaker for his position, Bey finding an ability to leverage his scoring prowess in the playmaking department would be a massive step towards becoming a complete player on the offensive end.

After seeing increases in his assist percentage (13.8), assists per game (2.8), and assist to turnover ratio (2.43), there’s obvious room for improvement, and also reason to believe that Bey will continue to hone this aspect of his game.

For the Detroit Pistons, any additional assists or improvements in the passing margin would help. Last year, Detroit ranked 24th in the NBA in assists per game, at 23.5. Cade Cunningham was the only player in the Pistons’ rotation to average over five assists a game.

Next season, Bey will almost certainly command more attention from opposing defenses, and will have the opportunities to make teams pay for overplaying him, sending double teams, or overloading sides. If Bey takes another leap in his passing the way he did in year two, it’s safe to say he could average around four assists per game, which would greatly help an offense in need of more ball movement and shot opportunities.