Pistons news: Isaiah Stewart’s impressive 3-point rankings

When the Detroit Pistons drafted Jalen Duren, it made sense to try and shift Isaiah Stewart to the power forward position.

The idea really emerged last season when the Pistons traded for Marvin Bagley III, as Stewart had a nice run of 3-point shooting down the home stretch that gave the team confidence he could slide over to the stretch four.

Stewart was never going to be a traditional center, but his size, athleticism and defensive versatility would potentially make him the ideal power forward if only he could shoot.

Beef Stew has not disappointed so far and has actually exceeded expectations for this season, as he is putting up numbers that place him among the best shooting bigs in the entire NBA.

Whether you want to call him a center or a power forward, Stewart is providing the Detroit Pistons with the shooting they need.

Detroit Pistons: Isaiah Stewart’s 3-point rankings

Isaiah Stewart is putting up the best overall numbers of his career, averaging 12 points, 8.7 rebounds and 1.2 assists. But it’s his shooting numbers that are really impressive, as he is knocking down 37.5 percent from 3-point range on 4.2 attempts per game.

This exceeds expectations, as I think most fans would have been very happy if Stewart was hitting 33 percent on the same number of attempts.

His 3-point shooting numbers put him 4th among centers in the entire NBA behind Al Horford, Myles Turner and Brook Lopez, three veterans who made the transition to stretch-five a long time ago.

If you count Stewart as a power forward, he is 12th in the NBA overall, just behind long-time sharpshooter Kevin Love and just ahead of Jabari Smith Jr. the rookie who was drafted almost exclusively for his ability to hit shots.

He’s been even more impressive over his last 20 games, when he is hitting 40.2 percent of his 3-point shots, numbers that would put him 8th among all power forwards. And when you look at the list of 3-point shooting power forwards, Stewart is taking more attempts than all but four of them, and none of those four provide the type of defense that he does on the other end.

In other words, Isaiah Stewart is evolving into one of the best two-way big men in the league whether you want to call him a four or a five. This development is huge for the Detroit Pistons, who now have more options when it comes to exploring trades and look to have the front court of the future cemented with Stewart and Jalen Duren holding it down.

Stewart is progressing even faster than planned, and when you consider that he is just 21-years-old and works as hard as anyone on the team, the ceiling for what he can be has been raised considerably from good role player to future All-Star.