March 2024 grades for the Detroit Pistons: Injuries and regression

Forwards: C-

The injury bug hit the forwards group hard in March. We only were able to see Ausar Thompson for five games, and Simone Fontecchio for nine. Both players were coming off possibly their best basketball in the month of February.

Ausar was suddenly hitting the three ball at 28 percent, still bad but not as bad, Simone was connecting at 38 percent, and both players were averaging double digits per night. Ausar had been battling with what was being called an illness, which was then diagnosed as blot clots, and ruled out for the season. Blood clots can be extremely serious and I’m glad the medical staff are taking no chances. Let’s hope Ausar is good to go to start next season. Fontecchio has been ruled out since March 17th with a bruised toe injury. Hopefully April will bring him back into the lineup. 

Before the injuries, however, both players were continuing their February play. Although a slight dip in field goal percentage, their rebounding, steals, and blocks were all up. Simone was even hitting the three ball at a fantastic 43 percent. Outside of those two, Evan Fournier saw essentially every stat decline since last month. February was a pleasant surprise for Fournier here in Detroit, but March saw his numbers level out.