Detroit Pistons: 3 players facing most pressure in 2019-20

2. Luke Kennard

Heading into his second season, Luke Kennard was expected to be the second-coming of J.J. Redick. He was a sharpshooter in college and he had shot over 40 percent from 3-point range as a rookie.

Last season, he came in out of shape and he struggled to crack new head coach Dwane Casey’s rotation regularly. Kennard is never going to be a great defender and he needed to make up for it by being a consistent shooting threat. He was good, but he wasn’t great.

By the end of the year, he averaged 39.4 percent from downtown on 4.3 attempts per game.

Those were good numbers, but they weren’t what the team and fans were hoping for, especially after seeing the player drafted immediately after him, Donovan Mitchell, playing like a first-team All-Rookie and put up good numbers again as a sophomore.

In his third year, Kennard could be playing for his future with the Detroit Pistons.

This isn’t the regime that drafted him and they aren’t looking for a guy that’s going to start at shooting guard, but only play 22 minutes per game. They want him to be out there for at least 28 to 30. He’s capable of doing that, but he has to force Casey to put him into the game.

The best players make sure their coach doesn’t have a reason to take them out, and that’s what he’ll be looking to do this year.