Simone Fontecchio was a disappointment for the Detroit Pistons last season and was never able to recapture the magic of the 15 games he played with the team the previous season, which is part of the reason he was shipped to Miami in the Duncan Robinson trade.
In Fontecchio’s defense, he never seemed fully healthy last season and was thrust into a role that didn’t particularly suit him, as he’s not really a power forward and struggled to defend the position.
The Pistons probably could have lived with it had he shot the ball well, but he hit just 33 percent of his 3-point shots, so what originally looked like a steal for Detroit turned out to be a dud who was benched in the playoffs.
Considering how badly the Pistons needed shooting against the Knicks, Fontecchio not getting any minutes at all shows just how bad he was.
But Fontecchio recently showed the skill which attracted Detroit to him in the first place, as he went off in EuroBasket like he never did in the Motor City.
Simone Fontecchio: Where was this shooting in Detroit?
In Italy’s recent EuroBasket win over Bosnia and Herzegovina, Fontecchio dropped 39 points, eight rebounds and three assists while knocking down seven shots from long range.
He set Italy’s single-game scoring record for EuroBasket and did it in only 37 minutes (EuroBasket games are only 40 minutes long), joining several NBA players to have massive scoring outings so far in the tournament.
A lot of Pistons fans are now feeling some amount of regret over trading Fontecchio, but let’s not get carried away here. Tek had one good game against mediocre competition and just the game before that went 1-11 from 3-point range, looking much more like the guy we saw in Detroit.
The Pistons had to move on and certainly got a better and more consistent shooter in Duncan Robinson, but it did take a toll on their power forward depth, which was already thin with Tek mostly playing out of position.
It’s too bad that it didn’t work out in Detroit, as Fontecchio is on a team-friendly deal that would have made him a big asset had he shot the ball better, but he’s Miami’s problem now.
One big game doesn’t undo a season of disappointment for Fontecchio, but it does lead fans to wonder what could have been had he been fully healthy and put in a more comfortable role.