Why were Detroit Pistons stars in bubble wrap for Summer League?
Jaden Ivey needs ‘to work’ but not in a real game. OK?
Yes, Jaden Ivey twisted his ankle five minutes into the second game (in which he was absolutely killing it). It would have been great for Pistons fans to get another glimpse of the Purdue guard in action and, apparently, Ivey wanted to.
Coach Dwane Casey said Ivey could have come back and played, but the team decided to hold him out.
On the NBA TV broadcast, Dwane Casey said they're holding Jaden Ivey out of summer league out of precaution. "Both young men, he and Jalen, both could probably play if we wanted them to. We want them to have the rest of the summer to continue to work."
— Offseason O (@omarisankofa) July 14, 2022
Continue to work? No offense, but a real game is a lot better at honing skills than dribbling around cones. At least it would show them what needed to be worked on. Three of the players drafted ahead of Ivey played at least three games.
And, like we said, training camp is two months away, they have plenty of time to do developmental skills work. When the pre-season starts, there will be a bunch of veterans in the mix looking for playing time as well. Chances to get in a real game, before the NBA season starts, will not be as easy as in summer league.
In the grand scheme of things, is sitting out a few summer league games going to mean anything when the Pistons are at Denver in February? Probably not.
If Pistons management is doing this because they feel these games are meaningless to the players development, and just want them in the gym working on their game, that is, at least, a plausible theory.
Hopefully, it is not because the club has decided to ‘coddle’ its top players, sending them the message they do not have to bother with summer league. The Pistons went 23-59 last year, no one (outside of Cunningham and Bey) has done anything to deserve a break.
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It is simply strange that a team that the past few years has had one of the worst records in basketball, are treating their top players like fine china, needing to be bubble wrapped and kept safe, to be brought out for the proper occasion.