Summer League is just one day old and already fans of the Detroit Pistons are overreacting.
This is the perfect time for it, as year after year we see fans losing their collective minds over Summer League box scores, as players become legends of July, often before disappearing altogether.
It is already happening with Kings forward Keegan Murray, who was drafted one spot ahead of Jaden Ivey, who ended up falling to Detroit.
Murray had a big night in his very first Summer League game, which prompted one of two reactions from Pistons fans:
“See, I told you Murray was the guy!”
“Or, Murray is a bum, wait until you see Ivey!”
Both of these reactions are dumb but for different reasons.
Firstly, the Detroit Pistons never had a chance to draft Keegan Murray, so there is really no reason to act like Troy Weaver passed on him, because he never got the chance. If anything, compare Ivey to the other guys who were left on the board, not the guy who was already drafted.
Secondly, I get wanting to stick up for and promote your guy, but he hasn’t even stepped on the floor yet, so doing this preemptively just makes Pistons’ fans look insecure or just plain silly.
Plus, fans of the Detroit Pistons need to prepare for the fact that Murray could very well have the better season, which is fine.
Detroit Pistons: Jaden Ivey and Keegan Murray
Drafting in the top-5 is a long-term game, as you are usually drafting guys who are still teenagers and are not close to being in their final form.
Keegan Murray is nearly 22-years-old and we knew he was going to be one of the most NBA-ready players in the draft, which is likely one of the reasons the Kings took him over Ivey, as they are trying to win now, which has been proven by their flurry of offseason moves.
The Kings are probably a year or two ahead of the Pistons in that department considering they have guys like Domantas Sabonis and De’Aaron Fox, so Murray made more sense for them, while Ivey makes more sense for a team still in the early stages of its rebuild around Cade Cunningham.
I would not be shocked if Murray had a better season than Ivey, and I think Murray to win Rookie of the Year is a pretty solid bet, especially if the Kings end up sniffing the play-in tournament.
But that ultimately doesn’t mean a thing, as Cade didn’t win Rookie of the Year after being the number one pick and I am pretty sure most Pistons fans would still rather have him.
We can’t overreact to every Summer League box score or this is going to be a very long offseason, and can we at least wait until these guys have played, I don’t know, ONE real game before we starting comparing them?