Kevin Huerter winning surprise role with one crucial skill

Kevin Huerter played 20 minutes last night against the Hawks, most of any Pistons bench player, a trend we may see continue, at least until Isaiah Stewart returns. 

Huerter has been quietly playing better of late after a rough start that led to a long stretch when he wasn’t playing at all. Huerter has played at least 20 minutes in the last four games and is looking more like a guy JB Bickerstaff will trust in the playoffs. 

Once Stewart returns, he’ll be leading the Pistons in bench minutes, but Huerter is now the leading candidate for wing minutes, as he’s shown he can at least hold his own defensively and that he has a couple of skills the Pistons need. 

At one point, it looked as if Huerter wasn’t going to provide much, but he is playing himself into a key role for the playoffs. 

Kevin Huerter is a shot maker who takes care of the ball 

Huerter hasn’t found his lost 3-point shot since joining the Pistons and is shooting just 19 percent from long range, but he’s been great from everywhere else, as he has hit over 65 percent of his 2-point shots for Detroit. 

I have no idea what is going on with the 3-ball, but Huerter is still a guy defenses have to respect, as he has hit 66.7 of his mid-range jumpers this season. He may not be able to hit a 3-pointer, but when he takes a few steps in, he’s money. 

I’ve written about this before, but Huerter is also steady with the ball, makes good reads and passes and most importantly, doesn’t cough it up much. 

He’s committed just seven turnovers to 31 assists as a Piston, a better than 4:1 assist to turnover ratio. It’s a small sample size, but compare it to Caris LeVert, who has 141 assists to 73 turnovers, not even a 2:1 assist to turnover ratio, which is horrible for a guy who was supposed to be a secondary playmaker. 

The turnovers alone could be enough to get Huerter more run than LeVert in the playoffs, when every possession is crucial, and turnovers will be a key metric for the Pistons. 

If Cade Cunningham is back and everyone returns to their roles, we could see Daniss Jenkins and Kevin Huerter as the first guys off the bench along with Beef Stew, as the Pistons look to keep some shooting and ball movement in the second unit. 

Huerter had been all but written off, and he certainly hasn’t been amazing, but he may be able to carve out a big role for himself in the playoffs just by being steady.