Detroit Pistons: 3 best acquisitions of the past 3 seasons

3. Drafting Luke Kennard

Luke Kennard could have been Donovan Mitchell, OG Anunoby or many other players, but it wasn’t. The Pistons grabbed a sharpshooter that can put up 15 points in two minutes without batting an eye.

Considering some of the other acquisitions they’ve made in the past few years, they could have done much worse with their draft pick. It could have been Justin Patton, who has played in just four games through two seasons due to injuries. So, let’s calm the hate.

Through two seasons, Kennard has been largely as advertised. He’s shooting 40.3 percent on his 3-point attempts while averaging 3.4 attempts per game. That per-game average would be higher if he could keep himself out of his coach’s doghouse on a nightly basis.

Heading into the 2019-20 season, his focus needs to be on being healthy and in shape to be ready when the year kicks off as he could easily start for them this year.

The only issue that people have had with Kennard is the fact that better players were drafted behind him. He could take a step forward on defense, but he was drafted to be a shooter. That’s exactly what he’s done on a nightly basis. Per-36 minutes, he averages 6.7 3-point attempts.

As long as Kennard can find consistent minutes this year, he can start to silence a lot of the detractors disparaging his pick.