Detroit Pistons: Has the Jaden Ivey/Killian Hayes experiment worked?

The Detroit Pistons have made some adjustments to their rotation over the last five games that have gotten lot of attention from the fanbase.

Killian Hayes was moved to the bench after 32 straight games as a starter, where he had found some success. Hayes’ numbers as a starter this season have been markedly better than as a bench player, though his shooting splits weren’t great either way.

The Pistons seem determined to see what Jaden Ivey can do as the primary ball handler and facilitator and may want to get Hayes reps from the bench, which is his likely destination next season after Cade Cunningham returns.

This has enraged a certain subsection of the Pistons’ fanbase, who thinks that Hayes should have remained a starter and that this move wrecked his confidence.

So how has the experiment worked so far? It’s been a success or a failure depending on who you ask.

Detroit Pistons: Killian Hayes and Jaden Ivey

It’s been five games since Killian Hayes was moved back to the bench, which allowed Jaden Ivey to be the primary facilitator with the starting five.

The move has been fruitful for Ivey, who has had one of his best stretches of the season, averaging 16.6 points, five assists, three rebounds as a starter on 50 percent shooting from the floor and 47.3 percent from long range.

The shooting efficiency is what really stands out, as Ivey is shooting nearly 70 percent on mid-range jumpers over the last five games. Obviously, it’s a small sample size and Ivey isn’t going to shoot like that for a whole season, but he has ticked up as a shooter and distributor with Killian on the bench.

Most importantly, he has really started to form some chemistry with fellow rookie Jalen Duren, who has been the recipient of all of those assists.

The move hasn’t been as good for Killian Hayes, who has watched his numbers plummet to eight points, five assists and two rebounds per game in the last five. His shooting numbers have been terrible, as he is hitting just 31.3 percent from the field and 27 percent from 3-point range.

I feel for Hayes, who hasn’t been the same player since the Paris game, and the move to the bench did seem to somewhat stall the momentum he was building, though his last couple of games as a starter weren’t great, so it could just be that he hit a slump.

Fans love to blame the coaches, his teammates and pretty much everyone other than Hayes for this, but at some point, he has to learn how to come off the bench and be effective, as that is his future with this team, like it or not.

The adjustment hasn’t been easy for him so far, but he still has the remainder of this season to figure it out, as the Detroit Pistons are clearly prioritizing Ivey as a starter and him as the backup point guard.

Some players simply do not like coming off the bench, and Hayes may be one of them, but if he wants to have a future on this team, it’s the role that is currently available to him. Hopefully, he’ll start to thrive, and next season he may have better bench mates to work with. There is still opportunity for him to be a big part of this team’s future, but it’s not going to be in the starting lineup, so it is on Hayes to embrace this role and make the most of it.