The Detroit Pistons started Summer League off right with a win over the Portland Trail Blazers.
It was great to see the new players on the floor for the first time, and there was plenty to be excited about, especially with the debuts of Jaden Ivey and Jalen Duren.
Summer League is the time of huge overreactions to everything, as we often forget that many of the guys we are watching are never going to be in the NBA.
Saben Lee has been the biggest target so far, as I woke up for fans calling for him to be waived after a 1-of-8 shooting night.
It was a sloppy, sometimes ugly game, which you’d expect in the first run of Summer League, but there were some bright spots.
Here are my three huge overreactions to the Pistons’ win.
Detroit Pistons Summer League: Overreaction #1
Isaiah Stewart can shoot!
Beef Stew got his first run at power forward, starting there with rookie Jalen Duren at center. Stew ended the game with 13 points, nine rebounds and a block, but the interesting number is that four of his six shot attempts were from behind the 3-point line.
Stewart hit three of them, picking up right where he left off last season, shooting the ball with confidence and knocking them down without hesitation.
His one miss was a huge brick, but the rest were smooth shots that he didn’t rush, but also didn’t hold for too long, which was a problem last season.
It’s far too early to know if the Stewart/Duren front court is going to work right away, but if Stewart can consistently knock down that shot, Dwayne Casey is going to have a lot of options.
Side overreaction: I hate the refs
Ok, so this is not really an overreaction. There were two absolutely ridiculous technical fouls called in the first half, one on Beef Stew for a “hostile act” during a free throw and one to Portland’s Watford for, well, I am not sure exactly.
This is a growing problem as the refs attempt to suck all life out of the game and T guys up for nothing. We saw it last season when Cade Cunningham got ejected for pointing at his own bench. It already looks like Beef Stew is a marked man after the LeBron rampage last season, so I am sure we can expect to see plenty of these “hostile act” technicals for no reason.
While I get the instinct to try to remove some of the nonsense, this officiating just keeps getting softer, delaying the game, and taking all of the emotion out of it. In short, it sucks and I hate it.
Rant over.