DETROIT – Just a month ago, the Detroit Pistons, along with many other teams, made a spate of moves to round out their rankings. With 11 new faces on the team, the Pistons are one of the teams with the most roster turnover.
As the Pistons continue to build their new culture and chemistry among players, fans have noticed the competitiveness the team envisions.
Of this intensity comes from the rookie center, Isaiah Stewart. The 6-9 native of Rochester, NY, made his debut in the Pistons’ third game and has been part of the rotation ever since. He made the most of those minutes and now sits at the top of the league with an average of four attacking setbacks per game.
Pistons coach Dwane Casey knew they would get the intensity when they selected Stewart from the University of Washington with the 16th pick in the draft this year. On top of that, they got a smart player who is always ready to learn.
‘(He’s considerate, he’s just one of a few guys, in my years I was in the NBA and set up training sessions that asked questions:’ Am I doing it right with the pick-and-roll defense, how do you learn it, what is your philosophy? ‘”Casey said.
Stewart, a professional, is still a student of the game. The second youngest player on the team took advantage of the veterans and coaches around him as he tried to improve every day.
“Whether it’s going to learn from the best coaches, I’m always trying to learn something new every day that will help me,” said Stewart, whose style of play has drawn comparisons to former Pistons’ Dennis Rodman.
One of the things that helped Stewart was to quickly shift his focus to the next scene and not dwell on mistakes he could make.
“If I miss a chance, or if I get a turnover, I make a mistake, I just have to turn around quickly, because the game is still going on and I have to be ready for the next play,” Stewart said. “So I’m just saying to myself: I can not get it back to the next one and make up for it.”
He was allowed to maintain the intensity and play through mistakes. In the 96-93 victory over the Celtics with 96-93, Stewart got a bad pass, but he made up all night against Tristan Thompson and Daniel Theis. The rookie helped limit Thompson to five points and Theis to two.
“He’s not really worried about how he’s bouncing off (mistakes) he’s doing well to play it,” Casey said. “He makes mistakes, but those are hard mistakes, which I love, and his future is going to be really bright here in the NBA.”
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