It was nowhere near his chest. Stewart isn’t Yao Ming
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You’re right, a guy that has not intentionally punched a guy in 18 years in the NBA was pushed to the brink to throw a laser guided blow, without looking where it landed, to Isaiah Stewart’s face.
Or, he was annoyed, tossed an elbow, and it landed where it did.
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They’re both the same height. I assume if he intended a head shot he would have swung high.
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He swung at the guy without turning or looking at him. It landed where it did. He obviously meant to hit Isaiah, and that’s wrong. I don’t know why it needs to be MORE.
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He did swing high. He didn’t need to swing upwards. They are the same height. He swung above his shoulder. Best case he swings and hits Stew’s chin/neck. But he knew Stew was leaning, not standing straight up. The lean is what he was upset about. He knew what he was doing. Probably just expected to knock him upside the head and not bust his face open, but the way he swung it was only going to hit his head.
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I think LeBron meant it to be a “get the F off of me dude” and try to hit his arm away. He didn’t expect his face there. But…results matter. He should be suspended. I don’t think he meant to punch him, but he did and he broke the dude’s face.
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Lebron definitely hit him on purpose. Probably meant to hit him in the chest. But he hit him in the face. I’ll hold my breathe on a lengthy, deserved suspension. But Beef Stew gonna be simmering in the pot for a while
Stewart was lookin like Hassan Haskins there. Seriously any questions about Cade’s athleticism were answered here, holding him back.
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Exact intent doesn’t matter. Lebron was reckless. If a pitcher hits a batter in the head when he was aiming for his shoulder the batter still has the right to be pissed.
Stewart is a really fun player to have on our side.
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I would say that whatever Jokic got a couple of weeks ago for charging and hitting Markieff Morris in the back with a forearm should be the minimum LeBron gets. And Jokic was retaliating in that scenario.
Since the Lakers and Pistons face off again this Sunday, the NBA would be well-suited to make sure the suspension for LeBron lasts through then (that would be 4 games). Maybe by then Stew will have cooled down, but I certainly see a scenario where he hasn’t.
I think the Jokic/Stewart example is probably the one that will stand. Both were the aggrieved party who got in trouble for reacting. I’m not saying it’s right, but I imagine the league will see the two similarly.
I could see Stewart getting a game and LeBron getting more.
I get wanting to stay away from a definitive conclusion either way, but am surprised that one could watch that and think it’s more likely that he went for his chest than head. Stewart was holding with an outstretched arm and Lebron went clearly higher than said arm. What is above a shoulder on the human body? It tends to be the head. Aiming higher than that arm is going to hit the dude’s face regardless of who it is.
Agreed. He’s pretty productive for how young he is. Surprised people would be down on him. There are a lot of very suspect centers out there, hard not envision him as a very useful starter. Shot will develop.
I guess I don’t see the point If you have the Pistons roster of not going full tilt with him at center for 30 plus minutes a night,
He can score, just give him some time. He has the footwork and touch that can develop. Hw will develop nice face up range imo.
He’s young for his class and is banging with grown men. Not many young bigs light it on fire unless their Isaiah Mobley.
In 2-3 years I feel good about him being a really nice piece for them and definitely worth a starters role. Works hard too so I think he has a lot of potential to mold and develop still.
Or the opposite, I guess, for some reason 
The LeBron Factor was too much to deny, I guess. Sunday should be interesting. My guess is that Stew will get 2 quick fouls called on him in the first and another quick one when he returns in the 2nd.
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So where are we here? I have to admit I thought they’d be better than 4-17 at this stage. They’ve obviously missed some Cade time (which is a problem, as he’s their best player), they’ve also missed some Hayes time, which I think in aggregate probably helps them some.
I figured their offense would be bad, particularly in terms of shooting, but I don’t think I thought it would be this poor. I thought they’d be a middle of the pack defense, and they’ve really failed to live up to that. Their net rating suggests they and the Magic are really in a world of their own at the bottom.
In terms of the individuals of note:
I had felt that they should trade Jerami Grant after last year, when he posted league average scoring efficiency on high volume, and that seems to have borne out. Grant isn’t of an age where he’ll be part of the next good Pistons team, and I’m sure his trade value has lost some luster from last year.
Saddiq Bey’s season has to bare some concern - he’s shooting barely better than Killian Hayes (that’s not good). The Pistons Assist/FG ratio is actually pretty good (one of the few things offensively they’re effective at), so it wouldn’t seem that he’s lacking there…maybe there is just more defensive focus, but it’s still concerning.
Cunningham, like all the rookies outside of Eric Mobley, is shooting poorly, but the playmaking seems to be there.
Hayes has paired improved three point shooting with drastically worse two point shooting. His assist rate has dropped, but that probably has more to do with Cade’s presence. His usage is 14% - pretty comically low. Again, part of the issue is that he’s a bad shooter, the other side is that he rarely shoots at all. He is the one guy on the roster with a positive DBPM, however…it’s just that his offense is so poor, his total BPM is by far worst of the rotation players. Overall, this is pretty rough.
Stewart I think has done what you could ask. He’s a good rebounder, and a quality switch defender. He’s always going to suffer a little in terms of rim protection due to his size, but he’s still ok there. I’d like to see him get more reps on offense.
Thought Hayes looked good before his injury. And things seem to move better with him there. Heard a good best case comp for him: Lonzo Ball. Someone who can push in transition, be a connecting passer in the half-court and shoot threes (he seems like he’ll get there as someone that can be an average shooter off the catch.)
I’ve missed the last few weeks of games though.
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Hayes seems to be improving but that hand injury is one that’s likely to linger throughout the season, since it’s almost impossible to avoid contact on a nightly basis. Last night, he was pushing the ball up court more than I’ve seen in previous games.
Bey…I don’t know what’s up with him. He seemed to add some versatility over the summer and looked good in October. However, he can’t seem to shoot well any more. A lot of Pistons Twitter is jumping on Beilein for the team’s shooting woes. I don’t know if that’s warranted or not. Cade shot well in the summer league too. Others have speculated that the new Wilson ball might be to blame. I think 3-point %'s are down league-wide.
Regardless of balls or Beilein, the Pistons are really struggling with getting any easy offense. Jerami and Cade are the only two players coming close to providing consistent buckets. Frank Jackson is improving and Diallo has been strong since getting out of Casey’s doghouse. That’s still not enough. They also turn the ball over way too much. Add in Olynyk being out the last 2-3 weeks and you’ve taken away a guy who might be able to rebound some of those misses. There isn’t one regular rotation player taller than 6’9" so they’ve been getting killed on the boards every game. They have a -3.7 rebounding margin on the season. Can’t shoot, can’t rebound, can’t take care of the ball. That’s not a good combo.
They’ve also had one of, if not the, toughest schedule in the league thus far. Phoenix is up next!
This team simply doesn’t have enough talent. I struggle to find more than 2 potential NBA play-off starters on this team.
People had lofty expectations for this team’s win-loss record but getting wins was always going to be a grind, and I’m completely fine with that. What I’m not fine with is the anemic brand of basketball we play, Casey’s offensive sets and rotations are hard to watch.
At this point, I don’t care, I just want to watch Cade improve and dominate the ball. We need as many lottery picks as possible.