Worst game of our young season.
Ivey is trying his best to play defense but CJ pulling all his tricks out and picking him apart.
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11 point game heading into the 4th. Ivey and Sasser really brought us back.
Sasser played great
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10% into the season, good time for assessment before we shift over to some Michigan Basketballā¦
ADJUSTED NET RATING: 24th (18th offense, 24th defense)
FOUR FACTORS
OFFENSE: eFG% 19th; TO% 30th; OReb% 5th; FTr 17th;
DEFENSE: eFG% 6th; TO% 26th; DReb% 22nd; FTr 30th;
Turning the ball at an awful rate while not forcing many turnovers.
Fouling at an awful rate.
Elite Offensive rebounding when Duren, Stewart and Ausar are healthy.
Teams arenāt shooting great against them, can they keep that up while not fouling so much?
Itās always weird to me when very good offensive rebounding teams fail to rebound defensively.
Some other things:
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Cade is still well below average in terms of TS% (51.1%, league average is around 57.5%), but I donāt think many of the lineups he plays in are giving him much of a chance. His 7 assists per game are coming at a high cost (5.5 turnovers per game). Iād REALLY love to see him in a logical offensive lineup (more later).
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Duren, Hayes, and Thompson foul A LOT.
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It is almost literally impossible to play offense with 2 guys with TS% below 49% in very limited offensive roles on the floor (Thompson, Hayes). Almost everyone who plays outside of these two and Cade are shooting remarkably efficiently (Duren, Stewart, Ivey, Burks, Sasser all over 60%)
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In terms of net rating, the Pistons worst lineup is by far their starting lineup (-14 pp100), their worst 4 man lineup is Cade-Duren-Hayes-Thompson (-18.3 pp100), their worst 3 man is Cade-Hayes-Thompson (-12.7 pp100). The interesting thing is that basically every single backcourt combo that includes Cade has been awful: Cade-Hayes at -7.4, Cade-Sasser at -12.2, Cade-Ivey at -14.1, Cade-Umude at -20. The only back-court mate he has succeded with is Alec Burks (+30!)
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Putting Burks in for any one of Hayes, Thompson, or Duren flips the starters from -14 pp100 to a minimum of +23 pp100 (these are small samples, but still)
-Regarding Hayesā shoring up the defense: Opponent Offensive rating with Hayes on: 114.3. Opponent Offensive rating with Hayes off: 111.9
I am not saying he is a bad defensive player, I am saying this his presence, as has been the case for 3 years now, does not tangibly improve team defense.
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I think Dreb% (and Oreb%) was pulled down by the games that Duren didnāt play. They were slightly above average when I checked last week.
The biggest surprise of the season has to be Iveyās situation, no? That has bummed me out way more than the fact Killian is taking the minutes. If Ivey doesnāt pan out, the rebuild is stalled regardless (not trying to be dramatic, but heās a big piece of the plan).
Also, Iāll give Killian some credit that heās been better offensively the past 3 games, because I know nobody else will 
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An interesting thing is that while Iveyās offensive numbers are very good the team offense has been substantially worse when he has played this year
The frustrating for me is that the most important thing the Pistons can do this year, in order:
- Try to determine Cadeās Ceiling
- Try to determine Durenās ceiling
- Try to determine Iveyās ceiling
They are absolutely not doing two of those and sort of not doing another
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Monty said some interesting things in regards to Ivey. Iām not sure if Ivey is handling this very well
If I had a promising year and got benched for the worst rotation regular in the NBA I wouldnāt handle it well either.
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Monty just spoke about how heās trying to get Ivey out on the other side becoming a complete player. Then Monty said heās seen it and lived it alluding to Ivey probably not seeing the bigger picture.
Why does Hayes, a horrifically incomplete player, not get held to that standard?
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Ivey has been out the last 2 games.The last 3 for Killian
16-30 FG
6-12 3 point fg%
21 assists
0 turnovers
Small sample size but since they have played 7 or 8 games everything is at this point.
Which is why Iād rely on his season to date numbers that dovetail with his career numbers (theyāre terrible)
Iāve seen too many coaches pull this exact move to the detriment of their team in the interest of their ego to give this Monty-Hayes-Ivey thing any credence as some zen move.
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Both players have a lot on the line. The coach hasnāt had his full compliment of players. Monty has a track record of developing players. The 2 players have lots of developing to do.
Montyās player development rep is just Devin Booker right? He developed a #1 overall pick into like the 14th best center in the NBA? He didnāt develop Chris Paul certainly (actually I guess he did in Charlotte). I mean, Dwayne Casey developed Kyle Lowry, Demar DeRozan, Pascal Siakam, Fred VanVleet, etc etc
And coaches have this blind spot where poor defense is a character flaw that needs punishment and a stern manner, but missing the broadside of a barn everytime you hoist a shot is totally ok! (and, again: there is literally no indication that Killian Hayesā presence tangibly impacts team defensive performance and more or less than Jaden Ivey does).
Cade is, again, playing relatively poorly if your hope is that heās a top-notch star. I personally am not prepared to say he is a poor player in a featured (#1) role, but once again the combination of coaching staff and front office is in absolute refusal to play him in a single vaguely sensible lineup, so the water is still exceedingly murky. You can play 1 of Thompson or Hayes at a time, certainly not both, and I am POSITIVE which one Iād play more.
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Iād guess Monty gets some credit for developing Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson, and guys like Cam Payne too.
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Yeah, fair enough. Heās coached awhile, I donāt know that he has a markedly better track record than any other above average coach.