Studs and duds: Pistons grades for the first 4 games
Stud: Jaden Ivey
Ivey is still a traffic cone on defense which is a problem that will hopefully improve with the return of Ausar Thompson when/if it ever happens.
But he’s showing us everything else, as Ivey has been efficient, averaging 20 points per game on 46/43 shooting splits.
He does have the propensity to hunt for fouls at the rim, and definitely wasn’t getting those calls last night, but it’s hard to garner empathy from the officials when you fall down nearly every play, which Ivey does.
Hitting the deck isn’t guaranteeing a foul call, so he either has to take those up stronger or get rid of it before running into a wall of defenders.
Ivey has also not been great running the second unit, and the Pistons’ need for a veteran backup point guard is glaring, but he’s going a much better job of picking his spots.
Overall, there are some issues, but he’s also shown us a lot of what we wanted to see, so I’ve been pleasantly surprised with Ivey’s performance so far.