Detroit Pistons: One area where Dwane Casey deserves some credit

Head coach Dwane Casey of the Detroit Pistons has taken his share of heat from fans this season.

The team has the worst record in the league, has lost nine in a row and some fans point to Casey as part of the problem.

Their disappointing record has led to speculation that the Pistons could look for a new coach this offseason and there are plenty of interesting candidates.

To his credit, Casey has kept the team playing hard and the Pistons have never been plagued with some of the problems that young teams have. There hasn’t been any finger pointing or locker room problems (that we know of) and he has continued to coach up the young players.

The future of this team revolves around Cade Cunningham and Jaden Ivey right now, and Casey deserves some credit for Ivey’s continued improvement this season.

Detroit Pistons: Jaden Ivey’s development has been exciting

Jaden Ivey was pushed into a bigger role when Cade Cunningham went down early this season and his development became mission #1 for the coaching staff. By all accounts, Ivey is a hard worker who puts in the time and wants to improve, so he’s very coachable and deserves most of the credit for his improvement.

But Casey and company have let him grow and take his lumps, and Ivey has improved at initiating the offense, getting better shots and knocking them down at a higher rate.

Here are his numbers if you split the season in half:

• 1st 30 games: 15.3 points, 4 assists, 4.2 rebounds on 41.2%FG and 31% 3-pointers
• last 30 games: 15.8 points, 5.6 assists, 3.6 rebounds on 42.4%FG and 36.6% 3-pointers

He’s also getting to the line once more per game and hitting a slightly higher percentage, though his free-throw shooting still needs work.

So does his defense, but that has improved noticeably of late as well, as we’ve seen him in better position, more engaged and getting blown by on the perimeter far less over the last couple of weeks.

We’ve seen him improve from the mid-range and from the 3-point line, a lot of which has to do with his shot selection and doing a better job of harassing his electric speed. It was on full display last night, as he made shots from all over and took over the game for the Detroit Pistons in the 4th quarter:

A lot of this improvement has to do with Jaden Ivey’s natural talent and work ethic, but Dwane Casey and the coaching staff also deserve credit for having faith in the young guard, putting in the time with him in the film room and helping him to improve his shot selection and defense.

He’s not a finished product yet, but Ivey’s improvement this season has to excite Pistons fans, who can’t wait to finally see the young backcourt at full strength.