Detroit Pistons: Killian Hayes finally has something to build on

Killian Hayes came away with far and away his best performance of the season during the Detroit Pistons’ ugly loss at the hands of the Celtics. For Hayes, he needs to draw confidence from this performance to carry over to upcoming contests.

Hayes converted on a 3-point attempt quickly during his first stint on the floor and followed it up with another bucket to bring him to five points in the first quarter, which was then already tied with his season high for scoring on the year.

Once Killian Hayes came back on the floor in the second half in relief of Jaden Ivey, he barely missed from the field, going 5-for-6 on the half including a perfect 4-for-4 in the fourth quarter. He ended the game with 16 points on efficient shooting all around and created multiple clear scoring opportunities for his teammates that unfortunately couldn’t be converted. To note, Hayes didn’t turn the ball over on the night, either.

https://twitter.com/DetroitPistons/status/1590536490664067073

A performance like this may be exactly what’s needed for Hayes to gain momentum toward becoming a consistent contributing factor for the Pistons this season.

Detroit Pistons: Killian Hayes is one of the keys to the bench

The team’s bench has been an issue in the early going, clocking in at no. 29 out of 30 in the league in both bench scoring and +/-, as well as dead last in terms of shooting percentage. Hayes hasn’t done much to help get the bench unit out of that dreadfulness so far.

To be successful in his role as a primary ball handler off the bench, he has to be a shooting threat. Having a consistent shot is Hayes’ ticket to be a part of the Pistons’ final product, and potentially his ticket to stay in the league.

His performance so far in year three has been underwhelming to say the least, leaving many to wonder what the future may hold for Hayes and the Pistons. If his strong performance against Boston can boost both Killian’s efficiency on the floor as well as the second unit’s cohesion compared to the starting group, the team will most likely be able to work toward putting together more complete performances that have been hard to come by this season.

As a part of the second group on the floor, Hayes has the opportunity each game to earn additional minutes like he did against the Celtics. It seemed that coach Dwane Casey was potentially going to have him close out the game until he started to lose some steam and the game ended up a bit too far out of reach. Casey has shown an affinity for allowing players from his bench unit to close a game if they are sparking the offense during that night.

For the Detroit Pistons’ sake, Hayes contributing at a high volume off the bench would be a key factor to becoming a more complete team quicker than expected.

Individually, for Hayes, you have to hope that the productive night is what was needed to get it going on a consistent basis. After his abysmal shooting start to the season, seeing the ball go in the hoop at the rate that it did against the Celtics has to be something that Killian builds upon moving forward.