Detroit Pistons: Awards and anti-awards at just past the midway point
Detroit Pistons: Team awards and anti-awards
Most Improved Player: Isaiah Stewart
Many would be tempted to give this one to Killian Hayes, who has improved, but given that Stewart was put in an entirely new role, I think what he has done has been more impressive even though he’s recently been injured and battling a shooting slump.
Stewart has improved all of his counting numbers and has evolved into a power forward with the ability to shoot the long ball. He’s dropped to 32 percent from 3-point range during this current slump, but has done everything the Pistons have asked of him and he’s one of the few players on this team that gives effort on defense every night.
I don’t know if anyone from the Pistons’ 2020 draft class is going to be an All-Star, but both Stewart and Hayes look like they will be high-end role players, which you will take given their draft positions.
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Least Improved Player: Saddiq Bey
Unlike his two 2020 draft mates, Saddiq Bey has taken a step back this season and a lot of it seems to be about identity.
Bey keeps trying to add to his game with dribble penetration (ugh) and post ups (double ugh) when he really should be focused on playing off the ball as a volume 3-point shooter.
HIs value to this team is to be able to defend the four spot and shoot 3-pointers, but he has gotten far worse in the second part, hitting just 33 percent of his 3-point shots on only 5.4 attempts per game, both the lowest of his career.
He’s a below-average defender on the wing, so if he isn’t hitting shots, what is he exactly? The Pistons shouldn’t trade him for peanuts, but they also shouldn’t be offering him a big extension until he proves he can impact the game on both ends in a positive way and right now, that isn’t happening consistently.
Even when Bey has big scoring nights, it’s done inefficiently and usually with a whole lot of dribbling. I’d like to see him morph back into the catch-and-shoot guy he was in his rookie season next year when Cade Cunningham is back and he’s not being asked to do too much on offense.