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Detroit Pistons: Player grades for the 2019-20 season

By Corey Rausch

PHOENIX, ARIZONA - FEBRUARY 28: Christian Wood #35 of the Detroit Pistons reacts during the second half of the NBA game against the Phoenix Suns at Talking Stick Resort Arena on February 28, 2020 in Phoenix, Arizona. The Pistons defeated the Suns 113-111. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2020 NBAE. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
PHOENIX, ARIZONA - FEBRUARY 28: Christian Wood #35 of the Detroit Pistons reacts during the second half of the NBA game against the Phoenix Suns at Talking Stick Resort Arena on February 28, 2020 in Phoenix, Arizona. The Pistons defeated the Suns 113-111. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2020 NBAE. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) /
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Detroit Pistons (Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images)
Detroit Pistons (Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images) /

Detroit Pistons C Grades

The most loaded category on this list, many of the Detroit Pistons this season were just acceptable. John Henson and Brandon Knight were brought in essentially as salary filler in the Andre Drummond trade. Henson averaged 6.9 points and 4.44 rebounds in his 11 games in the Motor City and surprisingly looked like he could be a veteran center off the bench for a young team moving forward. Knight looked like a reliable 3-point shooter in the small sample size he played in Detroit and could have kept himself in the league because of it.

Tony Snell was brought in to compliment what this roster could have been at full health. Last season showed that 3-and-D wings benefitted greatly from playing alongside a healthy Blake Griffin and Snell portended to do the same. Given that that reality never came to pass it is hard to be too critical of Snell. He had the second best statistical season of his career, averaging 8.0 points, 2.2 assists and 1.9 rebounds per game and will considering a pretty sizeable player option this offseason.

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While some fans may have expected more from rookie Sekou Doumbouya a C feels fair. He was the youngest player in the league this season and showed at times why some draft experts projected him much higher than where the Pistons drafted him. In limited minutes he still averaged 6.4 points and 3.1 rebounds while often being thrown into impossible defensive assignments for someone of his experience. The future is bright but he still needs quite a bit of fine tuning.

On the other end of the spectrum, Luke Kennard had impressive production in a season that was too injury-riddled to rank any higher. He developed delightful chemistry with Derrick Rose and benefited from his career high in minutes (up over 10 per game to average 32.9) and his number soared. He averaged 15.8 points, 4.1 assists and 3.5 rebounds per game on shooting splits of .442/.399/.893.

All of these are a career high besides 3-point percentage, but increasing from 4.3 attempts to 6.5 attempts and maintaining a stellar percentage is still a win. He is developing as a playmaker. As long as the tendinitis is under control Kennard will look even better next season.

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