Detroit Pistons: 3 Things we want to see post All-Star break

Detroit Pistons: The continued development of Jadey Ivey

I have spent a little time in this piece talking about potential future lottery picks (Wembanyama, Henderson), about a couple of former lottery picks that currently man the middle for the Detroit Pistons (Duren, Wiseman), and now its time to turn the scope on our most recent, highly coveted lottery pick – the 5th overall pick in the 2022 draft, Jaden Ivey.

Last summer, as NBA fans tired of hearing about Paolo Banchero, Jabari Smith and Chet Holmgren, their imaginations were captured by an athletic guard out of Purdue who was rising up draft boards. By the time the NBA Draft finally rolled around, that Boilermaker was seen as the likely 4th pick, not quite good enough to be slotted in the top tier with the “big three” but too good to fall to the Pistons at #5. Yet as luck would have it, Ivey did slide to number five, and as the tears rolled down his face it was clear that the standout guard was thrilled to be moving from West Lafayette, Indiana to Detroit.

So far, Ivey has largely delivered on the hype. Besides harvesting more than his share of highlights, he has been a fixture on KIA’s NBA Rookie Ladder. With nightly numbers of approximately 15 points per game to go with four rebounds and assists, he has shown the all around skillset that the Pistons thought they were getting when drafting the future backcourt mate of Cade Cunningham.

However, as is the case with any player his age, there is still work to be done before Ivey will become an All-Star weekend fixture. His 3-point shooting, which sits at 33.2 percent, could improve, as could his free-throw shooting for that matter (which sits at a pedestrian 72.5 percent). Ivey also needs to limit how often he turns the ball over. If Ivey can take a little bit better care of the basketball these last 23 games, as well as shoot a little better too, that progress will be a welcome sight for Pistons fans who are hoping that he is every bit the gift we thought he was when he fell to us at #5.