When the Detroit Pistons essentially salary dumped Isaiah Stewart to the Memphis Grizzlies, there were concerns about how it would affect the defense.
There were also concerns that Beef Stew would evolve into the exact player the Pistons hoped he would become in Detroit, some of which have been strengthened by Stewart and the Grizzlies’ red-hot start.
Stewart is averaging a career-best 12.8 points per game and is shooting an otherworldly 65 percent from the floor and 57 percent from the 3-point line. He’s already had some monster games for 6-1 Memphis punctuated by a thunderous block that went viral on social media.
It’s easy to miss Beef Stew, and I am happy he is playing well for his new team, but it’s still not a trade the Pistons regret, as Paul Reed has been even better, and for a fraction of the cost.
The Pistons’ defense, Paul Reed and the cap sheet
As good as Stewart has been this season, Reed has been even better, as he is averaging more points, rebounds and assists (13.4/6.7/2.1) than Stew and is doing it on even better shooting stats of 65 percent from the floor and 71 percent from long range.
Reed also offers a much different look as a guy who has a crafty bag around the rim and far more offensive versatility than Stewart.
The concerns about the defense can also be dismissed, as the Pistons have started even better than last year and currently have the number one defense in the league.
Detroit has held opponents to under 100 points in four of their seven games, and that’s mostly without Jalen Duren, which means they’ve done it without a real backup center.
The offense got all of the attention in the offseason, but this is still a team built around its defensive identity, and that didn’t change when Stewart went to Memphis.
Possibly the best part of Reed is that he is making roughly a third of what Stewart makes, which left the Pistons with far more financial flexibility and proved Stew to be a luxury they didn’t really need.
The trade obviously worked out for Memphis as well, as they got an impactful player for a couple of second-round picks, but the Pistons are winning the trade on the floor and on the cap sheet.
It’s a rare win-win trade, but it’s one the Pistons ultimately had to make, and they came out of it as a better team in several ways.
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