Detroit Pistons: 5 positives to take away from the preseason

Detroit Pistons: Positives from the preseason

Jaden Ivey setting up teammates

One of the bright spots of the preseason was that both of the Pistons’ rookies looked ahead of schedule. We know Ivey is lightning fast and can play downhill and get to the rack to finish, which he did several times, often looking like a young Ja Morant in the process.

But I was more impressed by his patience and ability to set up teammates. Ivey consistently pressured the defense, got into the lane and made the right looks to teammates when the defenders converged.

He pushed in transition and didn’t always look to score himself, as several times he was able to get all of the defense’s attention only to kick it out to the open shooter as he did here:

A lot of rookies would have just put their head down and tried to finish that, but Ivey was patient, waited for the defenders to commit and then kicked it out to a wide-open Cade Cunningham for the three.

Ivey was third on the team in assists with four per game in the preseason, and could have had several more if Isaiah Stewart hadn’t fumbled a couple of easy dump offs under the hoop. Ivey isn’t just all speed an athleticism, and his playmaking is going to help the Pistons’ offense grow as the season progresses.

Jalen Duren grabbing rebounds

Jalen Duren is the youngest player in the NBA and certainly has plenty to work on, but his rebounding was a positive in the preseason, which was an area of concern.

Duren led the team with 12 rebounds per game in the preseason, including five on the offensive end, which can be a weapon for him as he tries to develop his offensive game and gets limited touches in the half court.

In an ideal world he would get limited rotation minutes to start the season, but with MBIII’s injury, we are likely to see Duren get big minutes right away, so it was good to see that he can hang on the boards, finish possessions on the defensive end and get a few easy buckets on offensive put backs.