Detroit Pistons: What is the ceiling for Luke Kennard?

Second-year shooting guard Luke Kennard’s improvement has coincided with the Detroit Pistons’ evolution into a playoff contender.

Going into this season’s All-Star break, Detroit Pistons shooting guard Luke Kennard was beginning to show early symptoms of being an NBA bust.

Kennard was taken with the 12th overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft. The Duke product wasn’t awful as a rookie, but he wasn’t great, either. Kennard averaged 7.6 points per game, mostly coming off the bench while the Pistons missed the playoffs.

What made him look especially bad was that the player drafted one spot after him — Utah Jazz shooting guard Donovan Mitchell — played like a legit star right out of the gate. Mitchell finished second in Rookie of the Year voting, while Kennard failed to make an All-Rookie Team. Mitchell put up 20.5 points per game and led the Jazz to the playoffs, where they upset the star-studded Oklahoma City Thunder in the first round and he out-dueled reigning league MVP Russell Westbrook.

Kennard began his second pro season on another underwhelming note, getting inconsistent playing time and producing inconsistent numbers under Detroit’s new head coach, Dwane Casey.

Prior to the All-Star break, Kennard averaged 8.4 points per game on 41.7 percent shooting and 36.6 percent shooting from 3, and his defense was often criticized.

As a team, the Pistons went into the All-Star break at 26-30. They were losing, but still hanging onto eighth place in the Eastern Conference playoff race.

Since the All-Star break, Kennard has improved on both ends of the court, and the benefits have shown in the Pistons’ record.

Following a loss to the defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors on Sunday, the Pistons are 11-6 since the All-Star break, moving into seventh place in the standings heading into Monday’s action. They’re also on pace to post an above-.500 record and make it to the playoffs for the first time since 2016.

Kennard — although still coming off the bench — has been playing more and playing better during this stretch.

He’s averaging 12.8 points per game since the All-Star break, shooting 48.8 percent from the field and 43.0 percent from 3-point range.

Kennard posted 17 points, five rebounds and three steals in a win over the Miami Heat; 19 points and five 3-pointers in a win over the Indiana Pacers; 26 points and six 3s in a win over the Cleveland Cavaliers; 19 points, five assists and five triples in a win over the Toronto Raptors; 21 points in a win over the Minnesota Timberwolves; and he also had 20 points and two steals in the loss to Golden State.

Is this merely a hot streak that will ultimately cool down? Or is it the beginning of Kennard turning into the impact player Detroit hoped they were getting with their 2017 lottery pick?

Shooting will likely always be Kennard’s calling card and the primary reason he has a job in the NBA, but his improvement on defense has helped him earn consistent playing time recently. Even if no one will ever mistake him for Joe Dumars on the defensive end, Kennard has at least done a better job of staying in front of his assignment and making plays.

That, along with his improved marksmanship, has kept Kennard in Casey’s rotation after the Pistons traded for veteran shooting guard Wayne Ellington, after they’ve started to get solid production from backup guards Langston Galloway and Ish Smith, and while they’re still making room for defensive-minded rookie Bruce Brown Jr.

The realistic ceiling for Kennard could be as high as an All-Star caliber role player on a very good team. Perhaps that’s overly ambitious considering that just a couple of months ago, he appeared on the verge of a career toiling as a fringe journeyman, but the skill-set and potential is there.

A 3-point specialist and adequate-at-best defender like Kyle Korver has a career scoring average of 9.9 points per game and peaked at 14.4 points as a sixth man during the 2006-07 season. Korver made the All-Star Game as a member of the 2014-15 Atlanta Hawks, a team that finished the regular season with 60 wins and a No. 1 playoff seed. He was also a key contributor for the Cavaliers’ last two NBA Finals squads.

Kennard can develop into someone who fills that 3-and-not-terrible-D role on a contender. Of course, half of that depends on the team.

Will the Pistons reach contender status in the near future? Or will it have to happen somewhere else?

Kennard is still under his rookie contract, but the Pistons will have tough financial decisions to make as long as Blake Griffin and Andre Drummond are eating up more than $60 million of the team’s salary cap.

The developments of the second half of this season make a solid case that Luke Kennard should be part of Detroit’s plans moving forward. The fun part will be watching how prominent a role he’ll play in the team’s climb up the Eastern Conference ladder.