Detroit Pistons: What’s your worst take as a basketball fan?

Detroit Pistons forward Saddiq Bey Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
Detroit Pistons forward Saddiq Bey Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

Like all NBA franchises, the Detroit Pistons have some decisions they wish they could take back.

Whether it is a botched draft choice, an overpaid free agent or a terrible trade, every team has made moves that look stupid in hindsight.

The great thing about being a fan and someone who writes about basketball for a living, is that you don’t have to watch your bad takes play out on television for an audience ready to surround your house with pitchforks.

Recently, The Ringer released an interesting podcast where two of their draft experts talked about their biggest draft whiffs and the challenges of evaluating talent.

In the spirit of this, I will reveal one of my worst takes as a basketball writer (I’ve been doing this long enough to have a few) and encourage all of you to do the same.

Detroit Pistons: What’s your worst take as a basketball fan?

I try to avoid hot takes for this exact reason, but I’ve definitely had a few that didn’t pan out as expected. But I’ve also had some hits, like last draft when I predicted Tari Eason would be the sleeper.

Of course, I also said Johnny Davis would be the best player drafted outside of the top-10. He ended up going 10th and was terrible, so you take the good with the bad in the prediction game.

I also overestimated the talent of Saddiq Bey after he made 1st-team All-Rookie (a lot of people are in this camp, show yourself!) and put up some big games with the Detroit Pistons. I still think he can be a quality player in the league, but do not see him as a potential All-Star talent.

But my worst take may have been when I said Luke Kennard could be the next Manu Ginobili. I had very good reasons at the time, but it probably came down to the rule that all left-handed players must be compared to other left-handed players.

Kennard isn’t terrible, but he’s a one-dimensional player who can’t defend, a far cry from Ginobili, who was arguably the best Sixth Man of all time and one of the keys to several title teams.

I’m sure I’ve had other takes as a fan or writer that were equally egregious, but that is the one that stands out right now.

So let’s hear from you. What was your worst take? Don’t be ashamed, this is a safe space.