Detroit Pistons: Best candidates for 2018-19 NBA awards

Rookie of the Year: Bruce Brown Jr.

Khyri Thomas is probably Detroit’s best incoming rookie. As the No. 38 pick in the draft, Thomas was chosen before Bruce Brown Jr., who went 42nd overall. He is also better than Brown as a shooter and defender — two things that will get a rookie onto the court sooner than later.

This season, however, I would predict that Brown gets more playing time than Thomas, simply because he can play a position where the Pistons won’t have as much depth.

Thomas, the two-time Big East Defensive Player of the Year at Creighton, projects as a shooting guard in the pros at 6’3″. Detroit probably won’t have a lot of minutes available at that spot. Last year’s lottery pick, Luke Kennard, and veteran Reggie Bullock will compete for the starting 2-guard job, with veteran Langston Galloway backing them up.

Brown played shooting guard in college at Miami, but he’s also being projected as a point guard in the NBA. There, the Pistons have injury-prone starter Reggie Jackson, 36-year-old backup Jose Calderon, and Ish Smith, whose contract could make him the first Pistons player to get traded this season.

There is a reasonable scenario in which Brown finds himself No. 2 on Detroit’s depth chart at point guard — at least more reasonable it seems than one in which Thomas gets significant minutes. For that reason, Brown is the Pistons’ best candidate for Rookie of the Year.

With that being said, the 2018 rookie class is pretty loaded. The chances of Brown making the All-Rookie Team, let alone winning ROY, are between slim and none. Brown and Thomas will be long shots to get invited to the Rising Stars Challenge during All-Star Weekend.

Odds: Better odds at winning G League Rookie of the Year