If Jaden Ivey of the Detroit Pistons looks at the Internet much, then he is going to enter next season with a big chip on his shoulder, as there have been some ridiculous things said about him, including that the Pistons would draft Christian Bruan over him if they had to do the 2022 Draft again.
Re-drafts can be a fun exercise to see which players have clearly outperformed their draft status and which ones haven’t, but they often verge on the ridiculous when we are talking about players who aren’t even near their peak form yet.
For some reason, I’ve seen a million re-drafts of 2022 lately, and almost all of them slight Jaden Ivey, who fans must have forgotten after he missed most of last season. I
In a recent example, there were some choices that are just insane, including taking Jalen Williams over Paolo Banchero. I love J Dub, but I think the Magic would still take Paolo.
You can debate that one, but what shouldn’t be up for debate is the 5th pick, in which this person had Christian freaking Braun (who was originally drafted 21st) going to the Pistons instead of Jaden Ivey, who didn’t even make the top 10!
His teammate Jalen Duren made the top 10, as did Andrew Nembhard, Bennedict Mathurin and Dyson Daniels, none of whom are better than Ivey in my humble and biased opinion. This not only seems like recency bias but ignores the fact that there is no chance anyone would have put Nembhard over Ivey before last season and shouldn’t now.
But it’s the Braun over Ivey change that I’d like to address.
Jaden Ivey vs. Christian Braun
Ivey only played 30 games last season, so it’s hard to compare numbers straight up, especially when you consider the different roles these two players play.
Ivey averaged more points and assists but Braun got his far more efficiently. Both guys played with elite creators in Cade Cunningham and Nikola Jokic but had far different responsibilities and roles.
Braun’s job was to shoot wide-open 3-point shots and dunks off cuts, which he did very well. Ivey’s was to be the secondary creator and primary one when Cade was on the bench, something Braun never had to do.
I should say that I love Braun’s game and thought he should have gotten more votes for Most Improved Player last season. I’d love to have Braun on the Pistons, but he’s a classic case of a guy getting a bit overhyped because he plays with an All-Time great.
Would Braun be putting up that kind of efficiency if he had to create his own shots? Would Braun be this good on a different team? Maybe, maybe not.
As much as the Pistons still need shooting, there is no way they would trade Ivey for Braun, as Ivey simply has a higher ceiling and can be more than just an efficient 5th option, which is what Braun is for the Nuggets.