The Detroit Pistons are just over 25 percent through the 2022-23 season, and so far there hasn’t been much to be excited about.
They have the worst record in the NBA, Cade Cunningham could be out for the season and Detroit has regressed defensively to the bottom of the league.
The two bright spots have been the rookies, as both Jaden Ivey and Jalen Duren have flashed signs of stardom this year and look like core pieces moving forward, which is a great sign.
Ivey has been thrust into a bigger role with Cade, Saddiq Bey, Isaiah Stewart and Bojan Bogdanovic all missing time recently, but he too has gotten hit with the injury bug and missed the last three games.
But the 20-year-old is still one of the frontrunners for Rookie of the Year, as he is at or near the top of just about every category for rookies, showing a complete game that goes beyond scoring.
There have been some impressive rookies this season, so if the Detroit Pistons had to do the draft again, they might think twice before taking Ivey with the 5th pick, though I still think they would.
That wasn’t The Ringer‘s take, as they had Ivey plummeting in their recent “way too early re-draft,” written by Kevin O’ Connnor aka the guy who thought Killian Hayes was the best prospect in 2020.
Even though Ivey has looked explosive at times and is top-5 in just about every category, he slipped in O’Connor’s re-draft, largely because of his shot selection and the play of some of the other rookies.
Detroit Pistons news: Would Jaden Ivey still be drafted 5th?
The Ringer had the top three picks the same, as Paolo Banchero, Chet Holmgren and Jabari Smith Jr. stayed in the same spots. Of these three, it seems like Smith Jr. would be the one to slip given his shooting troubles to start the season, but he still has a lot of untapped two-way potential and has been playing better of late.
The rest of the top 10 went like this:
- #4: Bennedict Mathurin, Sacramento Kings
- #5: Shaedon Sharpe, Detroit Pistons
- #6: Keegan Murray, Indiana Pacers
- #7: Dyson Daniels, Portland Trail Blazers
- #8: Jaden Ivey, New Orleans Pelicans
- #9: Jeremy Sochan, San Antonio Spurs
- #10: AJ Griffin, Washington Wizards
As you can see, Ivey dropped all the way to 8th in the re-draft, with Bennedict Mathurin, Shaedon Sharpe and Dyson Daniels jumping ahead of him. This is what O’Connor had to say about Ivey:
"“…his shot selection has generally been quite frustrating. He’s settling for early-clock jumpers way too often.It’s probably advantageous for the Pistons to empower Ivey to jack up these bricks since their priority is player development and losing games. But it’d be nice to see him build better habits by being more choosy about the times he does unleash his jumper, and the times he instead attacks the basket. Right now, interior finishing is what Ivey does best. We’ve seen him finish a variety of finesse and power moves around the rim and he’s also shown the ability to dish to teammates.”"
I can’t really disagree with any of this, though shot selection is always problematic for rookies who have a high usage rate, as Ivey does. I think his drop has more to do with the other guys than him.
Mathurin has been amazing this season, and I do think the Kings would probably take him if they had to do it over, as he looks like a guy who could win a scoring title some day.
I really don’t think the Pistons would take Sharpe over Ivey even though he has been impressive. He’s scoring eight points per game for a good team and has shown his chops as a shot maker, but Ivey is a more complete player.
Daniels has also been very good for the Pelicans and narrowly missed his first triple-double last night. He might be the most underrated prospect out of this group, as he isn’t getting as much playing time but has been impactful when he has gotten in there, especially on the defensive end.
If he were on a bad team, he’d be putting up bigger numbers.
But Ivey is 3rd in scoring, 5th in rebounds, 1st in assists, 2nd in steals and 9th in blocks among all rookies and this is while playing in an uncertain role on a bad team.
I’d say the biggest argument against Ivey is that the league is really trending towards long, versatile wing players over guards, and Daniels and Sharpe both fit the description.
As O’ Connor said, it’s still way too early to evaluate these guys, so it will be interesting to take a look back at the end of the season to see which teams have regrets. Right now, the Detroit Pistons are happy with Jaden Ivey and hope to get him back soon.