Frank Jackson

Keith Langlois

He’s had one practice, barely knows the names much less the games of new teammates and won’t play his first home game for another 10 days. But through all of the fog, it wasn’t hard to see how Marvin Bagley III gives the Pistons a different look and can ultimately make them a more potent team.

“I liked it. I tell you what, he’s long,” Dwane Casey said after Bagley debuted with 10 points and eight rebounds in 21 minutes as the Pistons lost 103-94 at Washington. “His timing’s off a little bit, understandably, but he has an advantage in the post with his length and his ability to score around the basket. I really liked that. First play down the floor, he took a charge. I loved that.”

Bagley, at 6-foot-11 with a 7-foot-1 wingspan, can play on a higher plane than any other big man on the Pistons roster, underscored by his first-quarter basket when he took a high feed from Killian Hayes to score about as easy a basket at the rim in traffic as the Pistons have gotten all season. It’s a skill set they desperately need and one they’ll explore to the fullest depths over the season’s final 25 games.

“We’re excited to have him,” Saddiq Bey said. “In practice, workouts or games, just get him acclimated. Once he gets comfortable, he’ll definitely be a force for us.”

Bagley scored all four of his baskets around the rim, a hook shot from 10 feet out along the left baseline the deepest of his hoops. After playing nine minutes in the first half, Bagley was left out for one 12-minute stint of the second half and played a chunk of the fourth quarter with the starters at center. His stat line would have looked a little better, too, if he hadn’t missed four of his six free throws.

“He’s a little rusty,” Casey said, “but I like the way he plays.”

It was easy to like Bey’s performance, too. He scored 24 points, five rebounds and five assists. Beyond him, offense was a heavy lift for the Pistons all night. They were limited to just 23 3-point attempts and made only eight. Cade Cunningham, playing only his second game since missing five with a hip injury, was dogged by foul trouble that likely combined with his layoff to mess with his timing. Cunningham shot 5 of 16 and missed all five of his 3-point tries.

The bench was a problem, too. With Bagley’s assimilation in its infancy, Kelly Olynyk still off his form since returning from a prolonged absence and the Pistons missing Frank Jackson with back spasms, the second unit had a serious lack of punch. It cost the Pistons in the first half when they managed only four points in nearly five minutes and prompted Casey to rejigger the rotation in the second half.

But there’s only so much you can do when there’s not the perimeter shooting or scoring power available. The bench unit wound up scoring just 24 points and, most glaringly, taking only three 3-point shots and not making one. Olynyk, Killian Hayes, Hamidou Diallo and Bagley are all shooting less than 30 percent from the arc for the season. Jackson is the only player off the bench who shoots threes often and well enough to bend defenses.

“Just the 3-point shooting he brings to the table,” Casey said. “The spacing he brings because of the respect they have for him.”

More than the 3-point shooting or lack of scoring, though, Casey most lamented the 37 points the Pistons allowed in the third quarter when Washington got 17 points from Kyle Kuzma, who finished with 23.

“It was our defense with Kuzma that got away from us in the third quarter,” he said. “Some of it was our 3-point shooting, but most of it was our approach and taking it personally when somebody’s lighting us up like that. Too many times we let guys get away instead of putting my stake in the ground: ‘No more.’ ”

The Pistons play one more game – at Boston on Wednesday – before taking a week off for the All-Star break, then they’ll come back and play 24 games in 46 days to finish the regular season. Nothing will be more important over that time than fully integrating Bagley to allow a full evaluation of him ahead of a critical free agency decision on the 22-year-old.

“It’s an experiment to see where he fits,” Casey said. “He fits with both groups. He can play the four. He’s very flexible, very versatile in the positions he can play. I like the way he came in and contributed.”

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Bagley flashes hints of how he’ll help transform Pistons

Three quick observations from Friday night’s 105-102 loss to the Golden State Warriors at Little Caesars Arena

SUPER POWERS – Isaiah Stewart is built like a superhero and, it turns out, he might just have super powers. After being ruled out of the game minutes after collapsing under the Golden State basket and writhing in pain with a right ankle injury, Stewart – who needed assistance to get to his feet and walk to the locker room – tested the ankle and declared himself ready to go. The Pistons upgraded his status to questionable before the third quarter was out. Stewart returned to the bench, still in uniform, with his ankle wrapped with ice and bandaged around his sneaker, using a rubber exercise band to stretch it out. Though he did not re-enter the game, it was at least a sigh of relief that he suffered no apparent long-term injury. Overnight inflammation could mean Stewart still has to miss some time. Already minus Kelly Olynyk until late December at the earliest, the Pistons would be left with only rookie Luka Garza, the 52nd pick in the July draft, as the roster’s lone true center, if Stewart is unavailable. Dwane Casey has utilized veteran Trey Lyles as Stewart’s primary backup since Olynyk was injured on Nov. 10 at Houston. Olynyk will be re-evaluated in late December. With seven minutes left, Casey went with a lineup with Jerami Grant at center with Saddiq Bey, Cade Cunningham, Killian Hayes and Frank Jackson. The Pistons cut what was a 16-point deficit to four inside the final two minutes. Two Jerami Grant free throws with 33 seconds left cut it to three and the Pistons got the ball back with a chance to tie. Two triples – the first by Grant, the second by Jackson – failed to fall as the Pistons finished 14 of 42 from the arc. The Pistons were soundly outrebounded, 48-34, though Golden State’s advantage in second-chance points was only 18-12. The Warriors – missing Steph Curry, Draymond Green, Klay Thompson and Andre Iguodala – got 32 points from Jordan Poole, the third-year guard from Michigan.

BENCH SPOTLIGHT – Golden State was still able to field a starting lineup with punch given the presence of Andrew Wiggins and the emergence of third-year guard Jordan Poole, who helped the Warriors build an early 13-point lead by scoring 11 first-quarter points on 3 of 4 shooting from the 3-point arc. But the absence of Steph Curry, Draymond Green, Klay Thompson and Andre Iguodala meant the Warriors were especially thin on the second unit. That’s where the Pistons held their biggest advantage – on paper, at least – and Frank Jackson led the charge in turning that into reality. His 16 first-half points – a season high – helped the Pistons come back to briefly take the lead in the second quarter. Jackson finished with 27 points, hitting 5 of 11 from the 3-point arc and all six of his free throws. His triple three minutes into the fourth quarter enabled the Pistons to cut Golden State’s lead, 16 after three quarters, to eight. Dwane Casey went just four deep into his bench until Isaiah Stewart’s ankle injury forced Luka Garza into the mix, again using Hamidou Diallo over Josh Jackson as he did in Wednesday’s win over Indiana. Diallo responded with his best game of the season with 10 points and five rebounds in 13 minutes. The Pistons outscored Golden State’s bench, 52-30. Wiggins and Poole combined for 59 points, more than half Golden State’s total.

COLD STORAGE – The three players the Pistons depend on for scoring more than all others, clearly, are Jerami Grant, Saddiq Bey and Cade Cunningham. One reason the Pistons have bumped along at or near the bottom of NBA offensive ratings all season – they came into Friday’s game 28th, just ahead of Houston and Oklahoma City – is that the three combined were shooting less than 40 percent overall and less than 30 percent from the 3-point line. Cunningham’s numbers are likely to rise as he gets more comfortable. In fact, after missing his first 18 3-point shots, he’d hit 35.4 percent of his triples before Friday. And Cunningham continued to show he’s growing more comfortable against the Warriors, finishing with 19 points (6 of 12 shooting, 3 of 8 from 3, 4 of 4 free throws) plus six rebounds, six assists, three steals and two blocked shots – including a big one on Andrew Wiggins at the rim to give the Pistons the ball back with less than 30 seconds left trailing by three points. But Bey and Grant combined to go 2 of 15 in Friday’s first half, a big reason the Pistons had to play from behind most of the game, and they finished a combined 9 of 30. Bey, who shot 38 percent from the 3-point line as a rookie, came into Friday’s game at just 31.4 percent on 6.1 attempts per game. Grant entered Friday at 30.9 percent on 5.2 attempts per game. Grant shook loose for 10 points in the third quarter, when he hit 4 of 7 shots and 2 of 3 triples. He finished with 19 points, hitting 6 of 17 shots and 3 of 10 triples. Bey scored seven points, hitting 3 of 13 shots and 1 of 6 triples.

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2 chances to tie, 2 misses: Pistons fall to Warriors

Pistons.com

DETROIT – The Detroit Pistons announced today that the team has signed guard Frank Jackson to a two-way contract.  Per team policy, terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Jackson, 6-3, 205, has appeared in 120 career NBA games (18 starts), with the New Orleans Pelicans and averaged 7.2 points, 1.8 rebounds, 1.1 assists and 16.4 minutes per game.  He’s appeared in four G League games with the Texas Legends and averaged 26.8 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.8 assists.   

Jackson was drafted 31st overall in the 2017 NBA Draft by the Charlotte Hornets and his draft rights were traded to New Orleans.  Collegiately, he played one season at Duke in 2016-17 and averaged 10.9 points, 2.5 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game.  

Frank Jackson

Bagley flashes hints of how he’ll help transform Pistons

2 chances to tie, 2 misses: Pistons fall to Warriors

Detroit Pistons Sign Frank Jackson to a Two-Way Contract