Detroit Pistons player development grades for the season: The Rookies

The Rest of the 2022-2023 Detroit Pistons Rookie Class

After our two lottery picks, there is a pretty large gap separating the time spent on the court for the rest of our rookie class. The following players spent most of their time in development in the G-League or overseas playing for a club in Europe.  While common sense tells us that we will most likely not see these players return, there is always a chance that they could fight for a fringe spot at the back of the roster or a two-way contract. While we have less to work with regarding time spent against NBA level competition, we will look at how these players fared over the course of the season.

Buddy Boeheim

Two-way player Buddy Boeheim did not get much run for the  Pistons this season. However, Boeheim did play 18 games for the Motor City Cruise. We have discussed Boeheim’s G-League showing here on Piston Powered in the past, including a few big games. Despite these few big games for the Motor City Cruise, his stat line for the season doesn’t jump off the page as being a player that is ready for the big leagues.

Many speculate that GM Troy Weaver’s connection to Syracuse coaching legend Jim Boeheim is the primary reason that Buddy was offered a two-way contract that extended the entirety of the season. Regardless of what the reality is with this situation, let’s look at how Buddy Boeheim performed on the court. Billed as a shooter, Buddy Boeheim’s contribution on the defensive end of the court will always be a concern. As we have seen with other teams, (Miami in particular) undrafted shooters can be found and developed with effort and time.

During Buddy Boeheim’s final season at Syracuse, he averaged about 19 points per game on a little over 40 percent shooting from the field in about 38 minutes per contest. He made about 34 percent of his three-point attempts on just north of 8 attempts per game. In his final three seasons with Syracuse, he was ranked first (37%), second (38%) and fifth (34%) in the ACC conference for three-point percentage. This illustrates a player with the potential to shoot a consistent three-ball.

In 26 minutes per game with the Motor City Cruise, Buddy Boeheim averaged just north of 12 points while shooting short of 42 percent on his nine and a half attempts per game. Boeheim also made just over 37 percent of his three point shots on just shy of 8 attempts per game. Offensively, these are not horrible numbers, but that is against G-League level competition. The trouble comes into play when we compare that to his time spent on an actual NBA court this past season.

Buddy Boeheim played in 10 games with the Detroit Pistons squad this season. He averaged nine minutes per contest while called up. As we all know though, his shooting completely fell off a cliff when playing against NBA level competition. While with the Detroit Pistons, Buddy Boeheim shot an abysmal 18 percent from the field on just over two and a half attempts per game. Almost all of these attempts were chucking up threes, of which he hit only 16% of them. For somebody that doesn’t factor in on the defensive end of the court, his 0.5 player efficiency rating and -8 on the box plus minus illustrates a player that most likely should not be here next season without finding his range.

Season Grade: D-

Buddy Boeheim may have stayed fairly consistent with his college numbers in the G-League, but that was against a lower tier of competition. Having a few good games with the Motor City Cruise this season is really the only reason that this grade is not lower for the season. The NBA Player Efficiency Rating of 0.5 coupled with his being a shooting specialist that couldn’t make the ball go in the basket does not bode well for Buddy Boeheim’s future in the NBA.