Then they sub out Bagley first, move Stewart to center, that creates opportunities to play only a couple wings off the bench.
If the Pistons go with their standard starting five of Killian, Cade Cunningham, Bojan Bogdanovic, Isaiah Stewart, and Marvin Bagley, and then they bring Ausar and Ivey off the bench. Ivey could help counter having Ausar Thompson on the floor, with both being able to use their speed to score in transition and create easy opportunities near the basket. But it also means that Jaden Ivey becomes a competent, reliable scoring option should head coach Monty Williams allow it. Is that a good thing? It means that Jaden Ivey likely gets displaced from the starting lineup. Where: Barclays Center, Brooklyn, New York The fact they couldn’t beat the Utah Jazz sitting most of its best players doesn’t exactly fill me with hope. Maybe with a terrible NBA record on deck and increased scrutiny throughout the league, Monty Williams will ride his starters for 44-plus minutes each. Maybe with the wrong kind of history on the line, they can dig deep and figure it out. The staters can sometimes play well, but the Pistons bench is so far from being able to tread water that any move to the bench sees the Pistons outscored by double digits in quick succession. The Detroit Pistons, losers of 25 straight games, don’t seem any closer to figuring things out or putting a better product on the floor. At this point, NBA infamy feels inevitable.
