Detroit Pistons: 5 positives to take away from the preseason

The Detroit Pistons didn’t inspire a ton of hope when they lost all four of their preseason games.

We have focused a lot on the negatives, which are that the team wasn’t really competitive in any of the games, Cade Cunningham and Saddiq Bey didn’t play well, nearly the entire team was broke from 3-point range and they turned the ball over way too much.

You’d expect some growing pains from a young team with so many new parts, especially when several of the veterans didn’t play.

The good news is that there were some positives to take away from the preseason and signs that these young players are going to get there eventually.

Before we get to the individuals, let’s look at one team positive that was born out of a negative in a classic “look at the bright side” moment.

Detroit Pistons: Positives from the preseason

The Detroit Pistons have their starting lineup

Coming into preseason, there were a lot of questions around the Pistons starting lineup and depth chart after the trade for Bojan Bogdanovic.

The biggest were who was going to start and whether the combination of Bey and Bogdanovic can work defensively.

Dwane Casey used them both in the first game, but then switched it up against a big New Orleans team and put Marvin Bagley III in the starting five in place of Bogdanovic.

There are issues with both groups, but it’s a moot point now, as the injury to MBIII ensures that the starting five will be set going into the season.

We’ll see Cade Cunningham, Jaden Ivey, Saddiq Bey, Bojan Bogdanovic and Isaiah Stewart as the starting lineup for the foreseeable future, which at least gives Detroit some stability so they can start to build chemistry with this group.

Obviously, we wish this wasn’t dictated by an injury, but at least there are fewer questions now and the team can start the process of learning to play together.

Now let’s get to the individual positives because there weren’t many team positives coming out of 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.

Detroit Pistons: Positives from the preseason

Isaiah Stewart’s shooting

One of the big questions coming into this season was whether Isaiah Stewart will be able to shoot well enough to play the four with either MBIII, Jalen Duren or Nerlens Noel on the floor. Stewart is a plus defender who can guard centers as well as switch on the perimeter, so the Pistons need him out there defensively, but  will there be enough spacing on offense?

Stewart started to answer those questions, hitting 51 percent of his shots in preseason, including 38 percent from 3-point range. This culminated in a 4-of-10 effort against the Grizzlies in a game where Memphis’ game plan was clearly to sag off Stew and let him shoot.

I don’t think the Detroit Pistons should want Beef Stew launching 10 shots from 3-point range every game, but he showed he can hit them and has the confidence to keep shooting even after missing a few. As his confidence grows and he continues to hit them, teams are eventually going to have to respect that, which should help open up space for Cade and Ivey to go to work.

People need to remember that Stewart is still just 21-years-old and has already come a long way. He’s not there yet, but you have to be optimistic about the way he’s evolving on both ends.

Killian Hayes being aggressive

Another bright spot of the preseason was Killian Hayes, who finally started to show flashes of an improved offensive game. Hayes has the talent, so often it comes down to confidence, not hesitating to drive or take shots and simply being aggressive on that end.

The results won’t always be there, but the most important thing was that Killian was aggressive and didn’t hesitate to take shots. He finished the preseason fourth in shot attempts with over 10 per game, which is the minimum Detroit wants out of him off the bench.

He showed the full package against OKC, hitting some floaters, getting all the way to the rim for strong finishes and knocking down open 3-point shots without hesitating:

This is the Killian Hayes we’ve been waiting to see, as he has always had the talent but just needs reps and confidence. This is also the first time he’s been completely healthy in awhile, which can’t hurt, so let’s hope this positive momentum carries over to the regular season and we see an aggressive Killian Hayes evolve into a two-way weapon off the bench.