Hart

The Pacers have 13 blocks. The Pistons might want to think about being more judicious about attacking the rim.

Stewart plays hard but he costs Ivey and Cade a couple of assists every game because he can't finish in traffic.

Haliburton has quietly become one of the best guards in the league. If he continues to look for his shot, more people will take notice.

I think we reversed jinxed Cade into making his first two three pointers.

Hopefully he is already doing this. It seems like Cade has decent mechanics to work with. I look at Ivey and it feels like his ceiling for three point shooting percentage is lower than Cade's. His mechanics do not look good. I think you are happy if Ivey can be 33 or 34 percent from three. And that's okay with the rest of his skillset. I would not mess too much with his mechanics. He should just work hard with what he has got. Cade is different. He needs to be 35% minimum to reach his potential. And it seems like he has the mechanics to do that...at least to my eyes.

I think with the current roster, you definitely make some good points. 4 of our top 8 or 9 player are big guys who can't shoot. We really have no choice but to play two big guys together.

I was actually going to ask about this yesterday. Can you identify the issue with his shot? It's hard to see the spin unless they show a slow motion replay. I hadn't noticed this issue with him. My next question would be what percentile was he last year in the mid range. Del can probably answer that. I would guess he is a pretty good mid range shooter statistically and I would like to see him lean into that more. This would also explain some of the discrepancy between his college three point percentage and pro thus far.

Bagley allows us play two bigs but how much is that going to really help for a team that can't shoot. I guess it will help a little bit because we have guys on our bench who are just bad all around. You're probably right...they are going to need to split up Bey and Bogey at some point.

Also, Livers is not going to be an upgrade on Bey. Bey is not a good ball handler for his position by NBA standards and Livers is considerably worse than Bey. Plus, Bey is a more dangerous shooter. I still really like Bey but 5 or 6 threes a game is holding his value back. He needs to be at 8-10...probably closer to 10. Not sure if that is on him or Casey but it's frustrating.

That's really the crux of this. If we miss on Cade, it's going to be hard to overcome that in a reasonable timeframe. Killian was a bust the year before so that means we are really waiting for Ivey and whoever next year's top pick is to make us respectable. I'm still high on Cade...for the record. But it's imperative we put the right players around him. He doesn't have the freaky athleticism that Morant has or shooting range that Garland, Young, or Doncic have.

That's fair. I am talking Cade's third year. Ivey's second year. If we are still one of the worst teams next year, that is a bad sign. Both those guys will be 4 years removed from high school at that point. There are players all over the league who are making their team respectable in their early 20's.

Agreed. He needs to be shoot at a plus level just to be a really good player. Being a great passer will only take you so far.

It does beg the question once we get Noel or Bagley back, should we move Ivey to the bench so we don't implode on offense with our second unit? Edit: I forgot about Burks. That should help one way or another.

It's going to take a flukey night like we got from Joseph in Game 1. It's only two games but it seems like this is one of the worst benches we have had in recent history. Missing Noel and Bagley are not really the issue either.

The defense has definitely picked up without Ivey.

So good to see this from Saddiq. I don't care if he is 0-7...he needs to keep shooting. I really think the 34.6% three point shooting we saw last year is the floor for him.

I am also wondering what his best position defensively is long term. Doesn't seem like a good fit to have him guarding opposing teams point guards. There are too many good ball handlers in this league. At some point, the Pistons may have to find a quicker guard to start next to Cade and Ivey so they have a chance of stopping teams defensively.

That's what you give him till next year. But if Saddiq/Stewart in year four, Cade in year three, and Ivey/Duren in year two still yields one of the worst teams in the league, that is not a good sign.

I do love when Saddiq starts gunning. When you are down big, he lets loose. But he should be doing at the beginning of games. A Saddiq three is a better shot for this team than most anything else we can get on offense. 10 three attempts per game for Saddiq is not too much.

Some of these calls are pretty weak. Cade went strait up and got called for the foul and now the same thing happened to Stewart.

Any GM can accumulate talent with enough lottery picks. Building a winning team is what matters.

Plus/Minus can be very flukey. I will say though you never have to worry about Cade not playing hard on defense. Give him credit for that.

I'll give Weaver till next year but at some point, he needs to be held responsible. Killian is a bust. Our bench is awful. Noel and Bagley are not going to help the shooting problem this team has. I am not going to criticize him for Cade if he doesn't become what many thought but at some point, you just have to hold the guy in charge of constructing the team accountable. If we are one of the 5 worst teams three years in a row, that's a problem.

Even with Bey and Bogdanovic being good shooters, it still feels like our starting lineup lacks shooting because Ivey and Cade are probably going to shoot a low percentage this year.

I think Ivey's defensive issues are more than effort and youth. He really struggles to move laterally.