There is one positive list the Detroit Pistons have dominated over recent years, and that’s the KIA Rookie Ladder, the NBA’s weekly ranking of first-year players.
Given that they have chosen in the top-5 for what feels like a century, it makes sense, as Detroit has always had one of the top rookies coming into the league.
Last year’s draft was different, as there wasn’t a consensus about anything and the draft was as wide-open as we’ve ever seen it, which led teams to choices between "safe" players with lower ceilings but higher floors vs. the opposite.
The Pistons chose the latter when they selected Ron Holland II with the 5th pick, a controversial choice given their needs elsewhere and the fact that they already had a defensive specialist who can’t shoot on the roster in Ausar Thompson.
Holland has been impressive at times, but unsurprisingly wasn’t included in the KIA Rookie Ladder this week and has yet to get there this season.
He’s in good company, as five of the top 10 picks from the last draft have yet to crack the rookie rankings for this season, including Holland, draft darling Reed Sheppard, Tidjane Salaun, Rob Dillingham and Cody Williams. It’s not surprising given the uncertainty around this draft, but it’s not concerning for a couple of reasons.
“Veteran” rookies are dominating
I’m already getting “The Pistons should have drafted Dalton Knecht!” messages, which I said would happen as soon as he had his first 30-point game.
Knecht has been impressive for the Lakers thus far, but comparing him to someone like Ron Holland isn’t particularly fair.
Knecht is a full four years older than Holland. In fact, every player ranked in the top-10 this week is older than Holland, so it’s not surprising that they came into the NBA better prepared to contribute right away.
Holland has had his moments and is averaging nearly six points per game on impressive 60 percent shooting from 2-point range, but he’s shooting just 13 percent from long range and that’s where he’s getting almost half of his shots.
My point is that it shouldn’t be surprising that Ron Holland isn‘t a top rookie even though he was taken in the top five. His strengths are less obvious in the stat sheet and he only turned 19 in July.
He may not be in the rotation at all if Ausar Thompson were healthy, so I wouldn’t get too caught up in comparing Holland to guys who are considerably more experienced, as we won’t know for several more years whether that pick was a good one or not.
Ron Holland doesn’t have a role
When you look at the five rookies from the top-10 that have yet to make an appearance on the Rookie Ladder, all five of them are guys who don't have a real role.
Holland is averaging just 15 minutes per game, and Sheppard (12.2), Salaun (15.9), Dillingham (5 minutes in only 8 games), and Williams (19.3) are also guys who have yet to get big minutes for their teams.
All of these players joined teams that had depth at their respective positions, while guys like Knecht (22.9), Edey (20.1) and Risacher (26) were given featured roles right away.
This draft is about what we thought it was, with a couple of older players who had clear NBA skills that could be used right away vs. a bunch of young unknowns with high ceilings.
This could all look a lot different in 3-4 years, so it’s far too early to write any of these guys off or to anoint role players, who have big games at 23-years-old with LeBron James and Anthony Davis as their teammates, as the next big thing.