Killian Hayes has gotten off to a rough start in his 3rd season for the Detroit Pistons and that is putting it lightly.
His shooting woes have been well documented in the past, but he’s hitting just 18 percent of his shots right now and playing the fewest minutes of his career.
Coach Dwane Casey has chosen the patient route with Killian so far and has said that this is his young point guard’s “time to grow,” and has resisted suggestions that he might take him out of the rotation or send him to the G-League:
Casey said they haven't considered having Killian Hayes play a G League game to find his rhythm. They're not pressuring him on his inefficiency. Just want him to continue focusing on moving the ball and defending.
— Offseason O (@omarisankofa) November 6, 2022
Coach Casey knows his players better than we do, so I trust his judgement, but I also think it’s fair to question if this is the right move for the Killian Hayes or the Detroit Pistons.
Detroit Pistons: Why Coach Casey is wrong about Killian Hayes
As much as fans want to see Killian Hayes improve and fulfill his potential, right now he is hurting the Detroit Pistons.
The second unit is struggling to score right now and is actively killing the Pistons in pretty much every game. This isn’t all Killian’s fault of course, but it makes it much easier to stop five players when you don’t have to worry about one of them making a shot.
His confidence looks shot and Killian is hanging his head after every miss, which affects his ability to “be the QB” of the second unit.
And he hasn’t been great defensively either. He’s averaging less than a steal per game for the first time in his career and has a defensive rating of 118.2, though the entire Pistons’ defense has been terrible.
Defensive rating is not a great way to measure individual defense, but the eye test tells us that Hayes hasn’t been elite enough to balance his terrible offense.
A few games in the G-League would give him a chance to see some shots go in, to work on his offense outside of public scrutiny where he doesn’t have to worry about every attempt. I’m sure Hayes would not be happy about this demotion, but it would give him a chance to get some confidence and rhythm before coming back with the full bench once Alec Burks and Marvin Bagley III return.
There’s still time to save Killian Hayes but throwing him out there night after night is just deflating him even more and hurting the team in the process.
Why Coach Casey is right
Killian Hayes is not the reason the Detroit Pistons started the season 2-8, so benching him or sending him to the G-League now isn’t going to make much difference in the team’s success.
It’s not like they have a bunch of intriguing options on the bench that haven’t gotten a chance, so Detroit may as well just keep throwing Hayes out there and let him learn by fire. The team is unlikely to make a run at the playoffs, so this is another developmental year and you have to let players play to develop.
The Pistons have already picked up Hayes’ option for next season, so they are stuck with him for now either way, so let him take his lumps and play through it. If he can come out of the other side of this horrific start, he may build the confidence he seems to lack right now.
He hasn’t even played with the full complement of bench players, so getting back Burks and Bagley III could help him break out of this slump, as he’ll have more weapons to take advantage of his passing.
Sending him to the G-League isn’t going to help anything, and what happens if he doesn’t play well there? The Pistons have already invested in him for another season, and don’t appear to be going anywhere anyway, so now is the time to find out if there is a chance for him to be an NBA rotation player.
It’s a tough call for Dwane Casey, as you can argue either side when it comes to Killian Hayes. But for now he’s going to be patient and hope that Hayes comes out of this with more confidence in the things he can do to positively impact games.