2 young players the Pistons should develop, 2 to give up on

2 young players the Pistons should develop, 2 to give up on

Give up: Killian Hayes

Ok, I should qualify this by saying I DO NOT THINK THE PISTONS SHOULD GIVE UP ON KILLIAN  HAYES…yet.

But the writing is on the wall for the nearly 22-year-old French guard, as Monty Williams is not going to be forced to play guys who aren’t performing and Detroit is finally trying to pivot towards winning along with player development, a change that could leave Killian out in the cold.

He’s likely already lost his backup point guard spot to Monte Morris, who takes care of the ball better and is world’s better as a shooter. Hayes can likely still carve out a role for himself, but he’ll be competing against Sasser for those minutes, a guy who already has a history of being a much better shooter.

Hayes should be given every chance to win minutes, and if he can, that would be great. Detroit has already invested three seasons in him and Killian is still very young. He’s also showed promise, so it’s not like there is no hope for him.

But the clock is now officially ticking with Killian having to compete against someone who is not Cory Joseph or Saben Lee. If he can’t play meaningful minutes for a rebuilding team in his fourth season, it’s probably time to move on, which would be a shame.

The ball is in his court (pun intended) and who knows, maybe having some real competition will light a fire under Killian and we’ll see a big leap from him. But if not, it’s time to stop throwing good money and minutes after bad.