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Now that the seasons over I figured we can grade the rookies season.
I'm skipping Sirvidas since he really didn't play much.

Saben Lee
Grade B
48 games 16.3 mpg 5.6 pts 2 Reb 3.6 ast .7 stl .3 blk 1.1 TO 47% fg 68% ft 34% from 3

For the 38th pick, Saben was a good pick. Good ast to TO ratio and managed games well. I would have liked to have seen him attack his man more one on one since he has the speed to get by his defender. Reminds me of Ish Smith and he should lean into that. Shot a decent 3pt% because he passed up so many and only took wide open ones, definitely needs to work on that and take more. Plus defender and will get better as he learns the players.

Isaiah Stewart
Grade A
68 games 21.4 mpg 7.9 pts 6.7 Reb .9 ast .6 stl. 1.3 blk 1.0 TO 55% fg 69% ft 33% from 3

For the 16th pick, Isaiah was really good. Plus defender. Consistently in the right spot on defense and communicated with his teammates. Contested everything within range which put him on a few posters but that didn't matter to him, he's 6'8" but has good length, not the best leaper. Good in PnR and the dunker spot, he could work on catching the ball better. Really worked on getting up 3s towards the end of the season and shot a decent % on his 3s. Potential is high as he's such a hard worker. Pivotal part of the culture change.


Saddeq Bey
Grade A
70 games 27.3 mpg 12.2 pts 4.5 Reb 1.4 ast .7 stl .2 blk .9 TO 40% fg 84% ft 38% from 3


For the 19th pick, Saddiq was a great pick. He made the most 3s by any Piston rookie. He shot a high volume of 3s with over 6.5 a game which is so important for spacing in todays NBA. Mostly catch and shoot and some pump fake side step 3s. Good shooter with a hand in his face. Has shown some potential to post up on smaller guys. Good rebounder for his position. Even defender that kept everything in front of him. Once he learns players tendencies he should play more up on players. Would love to see him work on his dribble penetration after hard 3 closeouts, dribble pull up, hesitation drives, and hand offs to get more scoring opportunities.


Killian Hayes
Grade C+
26 games 25.8 mpg 6.8 pts 2.7 Reb 5.3 ast 1.0 stl .4 blk 3.2 TO 35% fg 82% ft 27% from 3

For the 7th Pick, Killian was an ok pick. Jury is still out since he had an injury and had limited amount of games. From what we saw, he is an elite defender. Great hands and stays in front of his man and contests, knows where to be and when to help on rotations. Elite vision can really whip the ball around with his left, makes passes none of his teammates could make. Decision making is limited since the defense played for the pass. Shooting percentages aren't good and it showed on the court. At the very least he has to be confident in his runner next year. Isn't gonna blow by his defender but can be good in PnR. Needs to work on his off hand dribbling, passing, layups. Also needs to work on his 3. His defense and passing will keep him on the floor, but if he's not a threat to score he will become a liability on offense. Defenses are going under on PnRs and covering the roll man and staying home on shooters. And when he's off ball defenses are daring him to shoot the 3.

Lee B-

Stewart B+

Bey A

Hayes C-

Bey A
Stewert A-
Killian D

I think Bey and Stewerts grades are obv. They were mid round picks who performed very well.

Killian I'm iffy on. He showed some good passing. Thing is his scoring was bad. He didnt get to the line. He also turned the ball over alot. I've heard alot of people compare him to Ricky Rubio which I think is somewhat the type of player he looks like. Hes not a lock bust and could still turn out good but it wasnt a successful rookie year at all.Also have to grade him down with Haliburton looking so good right after him.

My grades will factor in where they were picked:

Killian Hayes: D+, He had some good games but is clearly a project. He would have been a safer pick at the end of the lottery to mid- first round.

Beef Stew: B+/A-, Clearly outperformed our fan expectations and most thought he was a big reach at 16. He is already a useful rotation big and going forward he has some solid upside considering his age, work ethic, and natural shooting ability.

Saddiq Bey: A-, He was regarded as NBA ready and he didn't disappoint. You wonder how much upside he has at 22, but he seems like a solid starter going forward even with smaller incremental improvement. That is really good value at 19 in any draft.

Saben Lee: B; He was thrown into action and looked the part of NBA point guard. He needs to work on his shot if he wants to be more than a fringe rotation guy. Its hard to judge a second round pick but he played and was useful so he gets a good grade.

I’ll do an analysis of all the rookies later because I’m too lazy to do it right now, but my thing with killian is that he was always looked at as a down the road type of player with pretty obvious weaknesses early on. maybe not as much of a project as sekou, but it was fairly clear what his flaws were coming into the league.

I don't wonder one bit how much upside Saddiq Bey has left at 22. But then I'm old enough to remember when most players out of college were entering the NBA at 22 then still getting better.

Bey for sure has all-star potential. He's one of the best 3 point shooting rookies of all time. I think he can be a 20+ PPG scorer shooting 6 to 8 threes a night at a 40% clip. He also is reportedly a guy who loves to work on his game and is no nonsense, all business so I think its safe to say he isn't going to just be happy getting paid on his rookie deal and then coast with what he has. Thats probably the most important thing to take away from this group of rookies, is that we've got some really solid hard working guys. I

For Bey, the real question will be how he is able to add to his skillset to compliment what he can do from downtown. We've already seen a lot of improvement and his confidence grow throughout the season taking it inside.

Stewart is a guy that Weaver put a huge value on as a part of the culture shift. He's Big Ben like in that his effort out there is infectious and he's a HUGE difference for Pistons fans to watch compared to what we got out of Drummond all those years. A guy that will compete every night and a guy that doesn't back down to anyone. He's got me excited to watch Pistons games again and if he is able to make 35%+ from outside that's just a huge bonus no one would have expected.

I know this is going to have lots of low grades for Hayes, and he came out looking like an F those first few games of the season and then got injured.... he has the furthest to go just to be a solid backup in the league but on the bright side he did show a lot of improvement down the stretch and its clear he has good court vision. He still made a ton of mistakes and TO's but I would expect his has a chance to really grow over this offseason and everything that comes with it being summer league and a full training camp. I'd expect we'll have a much better idea on where Hayes is as a prospect in about 6 months as he starts his second season.

Killian could very well turn out to be a great player in 2-3 years. I just think based on what we know right now, he was a bit of a reach at 7. It ultimately won't matter if he develops.

bstein14 wrote:Bey for sure has all-star potential. He's one of the best 3 point shooting rookies of all time. I think he can be a 20+ PPG scorer shooting 6 to 8 threes a night at a 40% clip. He also is reportedly a guy who loves to work on his game and is no nonsense, all business so I think its safe to say he isn't going to just be happy getting paid on his rookie deal and then coast with what he has.

Saddiq doesn't have to do a whole hell of a lot to become a 20PPG scorer. He averaged 16.3 over his last 12 games and that was with three godawful shooting games (.143, .167, .267). If he figures out a way to eliminate/work around those games where the jumper just isn't falling he's good to go.

And truth be told, those godawful shooting games may have occurred, i.e. he didn't stop shooting jumpers and start driving more, simply because winning wasn't a priority. Once the Pistons are at a point where winning and Bey putting up points become a team priority, Bey may start driving to the hole a lot more--which he definitely improved at over the course of the season--when the jumper isn't falling.

7. Hayes - C
16. Stewart - A
19. Bey - A
38. Lee - A

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Bey (A) Amazing three point shooter, and plays good defense. He also has the hustle gene, diving to the floor for loose balls on several occasions. He started driving the lane, and going into the post later in the year as well. A solid, all around player who I fully expect to hit near 20ppg by his third year. One thing that still resounds with me, is that I and scouts alike felt his release on his shot was pretty low coming into the league, which would lead to an inability to get it off. Way off the mark with that one. His release is so damn fast, no one can close out fast enough. This is what makes Bey so damn deadly. Not just accuracy, but speed. What a Gem.

Stewart (B+) The only reason Stewart doesn't get an A from me is playtime. He didn't really establish himself until midway thru the season but when he did, wow. I knew he would be a bruiser, and always played well against other players who were supposed to be better, trashing them in the process when he was younger, but this level of translation is insane. Great rebounder, excellent shot blocker, and his defense is far ahead of where I thought it could be. Throw in his ability to hit a jumper, and do some damage in the post, and you get a for sure starting Center in this league. Another Gem.

Lee (B-) A great change of pace player, and for where he was selected, a great find. I gave zero thought to this pick, and was pleasantly surprised.

Hayes (I) Just not enough to go on. An impossible task to really grade. Body of work way to small. Good things-vision, defense. Bad things-Left hand dominance, erratic shooting, game management at times. Should be forced to tie his left hand behind his back for a few months, forcing him to use, and develope his right hand. I am not joking, and I mean for all his waking hours. This works, and he should do it.

Based on their rookie performance and where they were taken -

7. Hayes - D
16. Stewart - A
19. Bey - A
38. Lee - A

Another interesting question would be ranking them in value. Killian supposedly has star potential, but Stewart and Bey have established high floors.

Laimbeer wrote:Another interesting question would be ranking them in value. Killian supposedly has star potential, but Stewart and Bey have established high floors.

That's an easy question;

1.)Bey
2.)Stewart
3.)Hayes
4.)Lee

I think Killian gets an incomplete. We didn’t see him enough.

Bey, Stewart, and Lee are A’s assuming we are grading relative to expectations.

I still think most of you had unrealistic expectations for Killian as a rookie. Yeah, the injury sucked, and he wasn’t as far along as I expected with his own offense, but his passing was as advertised, and frankly, he played better defense than I expected for his first year. Was a project, still is. B for me.

The others were all A’s for sure.

Killian Hayes-C. Had occasionally great moments, but largely played about where I expected him to be considering the situation and injuries. More curious to see how next season goes. Rookie season didn’t blow me away, but I’m not super disappointed either.

Isaiah Stewart- B. Honestly had no real opinion about him before we picked him, just knew we needed a big. In his 14 starts he averaged about 13 pts, 10 rebounds, and 2 blocks. Plays with an edge/attitude we really haven’t seen here in a while. Even dabbled in shooting 3s and it didn’t look like a sideshow attraction.

Saddiq Bey- B. Guy i legitimately wanted Detroit to add, but had no idea how high or low he would go in the first. Had his bad nights, but I really think there is a hell of a player there. I think he winds up being one of the best 5 down the road from this draft.

Saben Lee- A. For the fact that I’m pretty certain no one had any idea about him other than maybe Weaver (posters here, draft pundits, nba scouts not working for Detroit), this was an impressive pick. I’ll be honestly disappointed and surprised if we lose him this offseason.

Deividas Sirvydis- super incomplete. I will say this, he’s at least worth a possible roster spot next season. Which is impressive only in the sense that I didn’t think he was worth signing for this season.

Interesting to see how mostly everyone has a pretty close take on the rookies. Glad to see everyone as high on Bey, Stewart, Lee as I am. Really hopeful for the future. Looks like the wait and see approach with Killian is what most are thinking. Not sure if he takes criticism well, but I hope he does. God I hope he’s not like Stanley lol. I think he’ll be better next year.

I have a hard time feeling too strongly one way or the other with Hayes. Most of what needs to be said has been covered, but one thing that lingers on my mind is that this team just wasn't setup for him. Especially with them sliding more into full tank-mode when he was able to return from injury. Killian isn't and won't be an offensive focal point. He's more along the lines of a true facilitator that needs the other pieces in place to truly capitalize on his skills. Those types are falling out of favor around the league so it's an odd process to watch while trying to compare to other situations.

The feelings for the other picks are more straightforward. Stewart is good. Whether it's as a starter going forward or as the first big off the bench that can play with pretty much anybody else it doesn't matter. He has the skills and is already producing with them. Same with Bey except he's a bona fide starter. These guys were that good without any semblance of a real NBA offseason to work with.

Lee was pretty good for a second round pick. I'm not as high on him as others seem to be, but his ability to get to the rim and finish is a valuable thing. The biggest factor I see with him going forward is fit, especially on the second unit with Diallo. That's not an ideal pairing. At least not yet with little other shooting available along with them in the frontcourt.

Overall this is a tremendous start for Weaver. I can't wait to see who he baffles us with next draft only to end up looking like a genius again.

i'll go in a different direction and grade the rookies regardless of where they were drafted, because it really doesn't matter at this point. instead i'll grade them based on their rookie season and how i project their role/ability in the league.

hayes: D
small sample size obviously and if he didn't return after his injury i would've given him an incomplete, even though his play pre-injury was an F. after he did return he showed the court vision that was his main asset pre-draft, and averaged 7 APG in 30 MPG down the stretch. he also did average 4.1 turnovers in that same stretch, which is in the doncic/trae young level and they have pretty much the highest usage in the league.

so even his strength comes with a pretty big asterisk. his scoring ability (not just perimeter shooting) is pretty much a make or break for him, and right now he has a long way to go to even be an average scorer. in the NBA lead guards simply have to be able to score effectively at at least 2/3 levels. hayes shot 9% of his field goal attempts at the rim and made 44.4% of those shots. if he played enough to be among the 237 qualifiers, he would've been in the 10th percentile of attempts at the rim (only 23 players out of 237 qualifiers would have had less attempts at the rim). of those same qualifiers, he would have had the 3RD WORST shooting percentage in the ENTIRE LEAGUE. so in his 26 games as a rookie, he showed a complete inability to get to the rim and a complete inability to finish at the rim. those are two disastrous traits for a player that hopes to be a starting guard. and that isn't even mentioning his perimeter shooting, which is way below average.

essentially hayes has some positive traits but he has so much to improve in so many different facets of the game that i don't feel optimistic about his chances at being a positive contributor at the nba level.

stewart: B+
bigs famously take time to adjust to the league which is why stewart coming in and making the impact that he did so soon is a very good sign. he's shown that he can protect the rim adequately, switch onto wings and guards and hold his own, he's developing an outside shot, etc. it'll obviously still take years for him to reach his peak but i think that peak is being a draymond green-type player. not that their games are similar, just in that i think he can be a glue guy for a contender. he hustles his heart out, shows he has a good head on his shoulders and has the requisite skill to make an impact. don't think he'll ever be an all star but he'll be a valuable player for good teams.

bey: B
his shooting is seriously impressive. his footwork and quick release made him a catch and shoot beast from day one. to take his shooting to the next level he'll have to practice shooting off the dribble and moving off the ball to open up more catch and shoot opportunities. inside the arc, he definitely has tools to work with as he has a solid handle and a strong body to maneuver his way around. i can definitely see him developing into a 20 PPG scorer with solid defense, but not the kind of player that forces team to shift their defense to stop him. i think with his lack of athleticism he should watch tape of older paul pierce to see how he can expand his game.

lee: C
lee reminds me of ish smith in a lot of ways, both good and bad. it took ish about five years to crack an nba rotation and even then never became a starter. lee's athleticism is electric and can get to the rim at will: he shot 38.6% of his field goals at the rim which would've been in the 79th percentile among qualifiers and the only point guards who too more shots at the rim were ben simmons and bruce brown (if you count him as a PG). he was an average finisher at the rim, but his sheer ability to get there and be effective is a good sign. lee had very little mid-range game to speak of and though his shooting percentage from 3 was respectable (34.8%), he was clearly not comfortable shooting unless he was wide open and had feet set. this lack of 3-level scoring was evident as when he would drive and the rim/paint was closed off, he had no moves other than to force a kick out and have the offense re-set.

he is also a willing passer and a good decision maker, as evidenced by his 3.2 AST/TO ratio which was 22nd in the league this season. he has good traits to build on and while hayes is perceived to have more potential, i woudn't be surprised in the slightest (based off their rookie years - mind you) if lee was in the league for longer than hayes.