Detroit Pistons' grades for February 2024: Promise and inconsistency

Centers: D+

If the forwards had a great month of February, the centers had quite the opposite. Isaiah Stewart had a terribly difficult time staying on the court, missing multiple games with an ankle injury and then a suspension for punching Drew Eubanks. In his lone game back this month, Stew finished with stats below his averages from last month, but we will chalk that up to rust. 

Jalen Duren had a huge month in January thanks to his health and availability. Duren continued his healthy streak into February, but was just average outside that. His ppg this month decreased by one, to 14 per game. His rebounds, assists and stocks actually increased, but only by decimals. It was Jalen’s field goal percentage that was concerning this month. After shooting 65 percent from the field in January, Duren finished February down seven percent. Most of this was apparent within 2’-3’ around the basket, where Jalen had some issues finishing. 

James Wiseman is the final center on roster, now that Mike Muscala has been waived (that’s a whole different article). When most thought the Wiseman experiment had finally ended, Weaver and Monty injected James back into the lineup, much to the chagrin of fans everywhere. Wiseman played decently in his time given this month, increasing is FG% by five percent (60% in February), but Monty’s reasoning for going to Wiseman was “because of his defense”, even though James Wiseman has one of the worst +/- defensive ratings on the roster. The frustration here is palpable.