DETROIT – Just a month ago, the Detroit Pistons, along with many other teams, made a flurry of moves to complete their list. With 11 new faces on the team, the Pistons is one of the teams that most had the rotating squad.
As the Pistons continue to build their new culture and chemistry among players, fans have begun to see the competitiveness the team envisioned.
Part of that intensity comes from the debut center Isaiah Stewart. The 6-9 native from Rochester, NY, made his debut in the third game of the Pistons and has been part of the rotation since then. He made the most of those minutes and is now at the top of the league with an average of four offensive rebounds per game.
Pistons coach Dwane Casey knew they would achieve that intensity when they selected Stewart as the 16th choice in this year’s University of Washington draft. In addition to this high energy, they got a smart player who is always ready to learn.
“(He’s) attentive, he’s just one of the few guys, in my years of being in the NBA and draft training that asked questions about, ‘I’m doing it right with the defense against pick and roll, as you teach, what is the your philosophy? ‘Casey said.
Now a professional, Stewart remained a student of the game. The second youngest player on the team took advantage of the veterans and coaches around him and strives to improve every day.
“Whether it’s learning 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 with former Pistons big man Dennis Rodman.
One of the things that helped Stewart was to quickly shift his focus to the next move and not be thinking about the mistakes he might make.
“If I miss a chance, or if I have a turn, I make a mistake, I just have to make a quick turn because the game is still going on and I have to be ready for the next move,” said Stewart. “So, I tell myself, I can’t go back to the next one and make up for it.”
This allowed him to maintain that intensity and play on mistakes. In Friday’s 96-93 victory over the Celtics, Stewart was caught by a bad pass, but made up for it all night against Tristan Thompson and Daniel Theis. The rookie helped to limit Thompson to five points and Theis to two.
“I’m not really concerned with how he recovers from (mistakes), which he does a good job of playing,” said Casey. “He makes mistakes, but they are serious mistakes, which I love, and his future will really be bright here in the NBA.”
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