The Detroit Pistons finally have some foundational talent to build around in Cade Cunningham, Jaden Ivey and Jalen Duren.
Both Ivey and Duren just landed on the All-Rookie team, extending the Pistons’ streak to three straight years with at least one player on the squad, the second-longest in team history.
Ivey really came on as the season progressed, played more under control and more efficiently and averaged 19.3 points, 7.1 assists and 3.7 rebounds after the All-Star break while shooting 40 percent from the floor and 36 percent from 3-point range.
There’s an argument that he should have made the All-Rookie first team over Bennedict Mathurin, but in the end, it doesn’t really matter, as no one will even be able to remember it in a few years, when both players could be stars.
Sam Vecenie of The Athletic (SUBSCRIPTION REQUIRED) is one person who is betting on Ivey, who he moved up to 4th in his recent 2022 re-draft, in the same tier with Rookie of the Year Paolo Banchero.
Detroit Pistons: Is Jaden Ivey in the same tier as Paolo Banchero?
Here is Vecenie’s top-4 in his recent re-draft:
- Paolo Banchero
- Jalen Williams
- Chet Holmgren
- Jaden Ivey
Vecenie wasn’t super high on this draft going in, especially at the top, but now thinks there are at least four players with star potential and that Ivey is one of them.
Here’s some of what he had to say about the Detroit Pistons’ rookie guard:
"“Ivey is kind of the end of a tier for me. I’m a strong believer in his upside. After starting the season poorly, I was incredibly impressed by Ivey’s growth throughout the course of the season…For him to be processing all of this and figuring this out on the fly is incredibly impressive. As long as his finishing improves and he continues to improve from the midrange, Ivey has every potential to reach the All-Star ceiling scouts thought he had entering the draft.”"
Banchero averaged 20 points per game as the number one option for Orlando this season while adding nearly seven rebounds and 3.7 assists, but not much was made of his inefficiency (which we heard about constantly with Ivey), even though he shot just 42 percent from the floor and 29 percent from 3-point range.
Like Ivey, Banchero ended on a high note, shooting 44 percent overall and 35 percent from the 3-point line after the All-Star break, so both players got into a better rhythm as the season went on.
As good as Ivey was, I was surprised to see Vecenie put him in the same tier as Banchero, but both guys have the chance to be All-Stars and Ivey’s stock is clearly on the rise. He also based his rankings on long-term potential, which is why guys like Shaedon Sharpe (5) and Jeremy Sochan (6) may have jumped ahead of Keegan Murray (7) and Walker Kessler (9) in this re-draft.