Pistons rookie Jaden Ivey becoming a problem (for opponents)

Jaden Iveys performances are becoming more routine than congratulatory. With each passing game, the 21-year-old guard has had his narrative morph from Oh, hes good for a rookie to Oh, hes good.

Jaden Ivey’s performances are becoming more routine than congratulatory. With each passing game, the 21-year-old guard has had his narrative morph from “Oh, he’s good for a rookie” to “Oh, he’s good.”

The No. 5 pick in the 2022 NBA Draft is driving the car for an organization that’s down so many bodies you’d think there was a Victor Wembanyama-sized outbreak running through the city of Detroit. He’s been at the top of each opposing team’s scouting report. The possibility of success has rested on his shoulders night after night in recent weeks. The outcomes haven’t been favorable for the short-handed rebuilding Pistons, but Ivey has upped his play to put Detroit in a position to win.

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Tuesday night’s nail-biter against the Wizards was a perfect example. Ivey scored 26 points and dished 12 assists, just 24 hours after his 13 points and 13 assists helped the Pistons put a scare into the Trailblazers.

Ivey’s growth as a point guard and a table setter smacks you in the face. Against Washington, he handed out seven assists in the first half to help Detroit take the lead into halftime. Late in the game, though, when the Pistons needed someone, anyone, to provide a bucket or two, the rookie took over. Fourteen of his team-high 26 points came in the game’s final nine minutes.

Ivey is improving at a rapid pace. He still makes mistakes, like the majority of the five turnovers he gifted Washington in the 119-117 loss, but they come with good intentions.

Detroit might not have the rookie of the year on its roster, but it certainly feels like it has a newcomer who is destined for something great.

“That’s a win,” Pistons head coach Dwane Casey said of Ivey’s performances amid a losing season. “It hurts us right now, it turns our gut to lose a tight game like that, but the growth he’s had … he had some turnovers tonight that he didn’t have the last game, but when it came to closing time and getting buckets the way you have to have to break a defense down, he did that at the end of the game.

“I’m really happy with Jaden’s growth and his progress the last couple of weeks.”

Played with heart. pic.twitter.com/pELiKNnwZF

— Detroit Pistons (@DetroitPistons) March 8, 2023

Just after Christmas, Clippers head coach Ty Lue talked about Ivey’s first few months in the NBA and what it will take for him to reach the potential many saw in him coming out of Purdue. This is what he had to say:

“What (Ivey) does every single night, he plays hard, he attacks and he gets downhill. Soon, he’ll see, ‘OK, I have to get a midrange shot. Now, I have to improve my 3-point shooting.’ That’ll open up everything for him. The change of pace, change of speeds.”

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Less than three months later, those things Lue mentioned that take a quick-twitched, high-energy guard like Ivey to the next level have come to fruition.

Ivey is often teetering between blistering quick and annoyingly patient for opposing defenses. Furthermore, his midrange game has turned a corner with great grace and conviction. Since Feb 1., Ivey is attempting close to 4.0 shots per game from 10-to-24 feet and is converting on over 50 percent of those, per NBA.com. From the start of the season to the end of January, Ivey was only converting on, roughly, 35 percent of his attempts from that range.

His progress as a 3-point shooter, too, has followed a similar trajectory. Since Feb. 1, Ivey has knocked down a respectable 37.5 percent of his 3-point tries (averaging 4.9 attempts per game). From the start of the season to the end of January, Ivey was only converting on 31.8 percent of his 3s.

Over the last month, defenses have surrendered 3-point looks to Ivey in order to take away his greatest gifts. He has made them pay. Ivey is no longer shooting midrange shots to try and prove that he can. He’s shooting them because it has become a weapon.

“It’s confidence,” Ivey said in late February. “It’s confidence to get to my midrange when they’re sagging off. If I don’t have something going for me, I can always create for my teammates.”

Ivey likely won’t win rookie of the year, though his case should be a bit louder than it has been. On Monday, Ivey became just the fourth rookie in the last 15 years to account for 900 points, 225 rebounds, 250 assists and 75 3-pointers in the first 60 games of his career — joining teammate Cade Cunningham, Stephen Curry and Luka Doncic.

He has improved each month and has gotten better as his responsibilities have grown. Ivey went from being benched with the game on the line to the player his coach is drawing up plays for.

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When you envision linear rookie progress, Ivey is the perfect example in human form. His ceiling has only risen as the season has gone on. The Pistons’ campaign is over and done with now, but Ivey makes the possibilities of what’s to come much more tantalizing.

The development has been rapid. The growth is backed by both the eye test and the numbers. Ivey is getting better with each and every rep, which is what this season was about for Detroit.

Ivey hasn’t figured everything out yet and he’s already a problem — for Pistons’ opponents.

(Photo of Jaden Ivey being defended by Corey Kispert of the Wizards: Carlos Osorio / Associated Press)

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