Detroit Pistons: 3 late bloomers who should give hope to Killian Hayes
There is no other way to say this: Killian Hayes has been a disappointment for the Detroit Pistons so far.
Fair or not, there are high expectations when you are a top-10 pick and Killian Hayes not met them, especially compared with other point guards (Tyrese Haliburton, Cole Anthony) who were taken after him in the draft.
If you had to do the 2020 NBA Draft again, Killian Hayes may not even be a first-round pick.
He’s not a lock for the Pistons’ rotation for the first time in his short career, and considering his expiring contract, it’s possible Hayes won’t be on the Detroit Pistons’ roster at all before the season is over.
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But Hayes just turned 22 years old, so it is still too soon to know whether he will eventually make an impact in the NBA. Luckily, the list of point guards who were late bloomers is a long one and three in particular show that there is hope yet for Killian Hayes.
Detroit Pistons: 3 late bloomers who should give hope to Killian Hayes
Kyle Lowry
Killian Hayes averaged 10.3 points, 6.2 assists and 2.9 rebounds in this third season, but did it on terrible shooting splits of 37 percent from the field and an abysmal 28 percent from long range. He did show flashes of very good defense and playmaking, but it’s clear he has to shoot better to be in the rotation of a good NBA team.
Kyle Lowry is a six-time All-Star and NBA Champion, but he didn’t start out that way. He averaged just 7.6 points, 3.6 assists and 2.5 rebounds in his third season in the league when he was a year older than Killian. His shooting wasn’t quite as bad as Killian’s from the field (43.5%) but he was even worse from 3-point range and ended up being traded from Memphis to Houston.
It wasn’t until his 5th season that we started to see the Lowry who was one of the best two-way guards in the league, and he was 28 years old before he made his first All-Star team for Toronto, which was his third team at that point.
Will Hayes have similar success on a team other than the Detroit Pistons?