Isaiah Stewart is one of the most interesting players on the Detroit Pistons even though a lot of fans only know him as the guy who went after LeBron James.
But he was often described as the heart and soul of the Pistons’ team, especially on the defensive end, where is willing to take on any assignment.
Stewart is just 21-years-old (for a few more weeks at least) and has plenty of time to improve, but he has already shown that he can be a quality role player in the league and those are pretty important, as we’ve seen in this year’s playoffs.
One of the guys who often gets overlooked for the Golden State Warriors is role player Kevon Looney, who pulled down 21 rebounds in their game 7 win last night, played defense all over the floor and pushed around Domantas Sabonis, who he dominated on the boards.
Looney not only shows the importance of role players, but how versatile big men can be a weapon in the playoffs.
Detroit Pistons: The Warriors’ versatile bigs
Troy Weaver has talked a lot about using two bigs and the need to be able to “go big” to compete against teams like Cleveland and Milwaukee in the Eastern Conference.
But if you’ve been watching the playoffs this season, more teams are going small and not using a traditional big at all. The Heat, Celtics, Nuggets and Warriors are all teams that use lineups without real centers, but no team has been better at it than Golden State.
The reason they can get away with it is that they have a good wing defender in Andrew Wiggins and two versatile bigs, neither of which are traditional centers. Draymond Green has shown he can defend just about everyone, and Kevon Looney is there to do the muscle work, grab rebounds and set screens.
He’s not a prolific scorer, but he has averaged 15.1 rebounds and 4.3 assists in the playoffs by hustling, crashing the boards and making the right pass.
Those are all things that Isaiah Stewart does well, and Looney shows how Beef Stew could be used at times in smaller lineups to get more shooting on the floor.
The Kings didn’t have that kind of enforcer and couldn’t match Looney’s intensity in the paint. Stewart is 6-foot-9, just like Looney and has the strength to play a similar type of game.
Stewart’s strength and versatility could make him a defensive weapon for the Detroit Pistons and allow them to go small at times, let’s just hope the new coach is up to the task of getting the most out of the Pistons’ variety of centers and that Troy Weaver is paying attention to these playoffs.