Detroit Pistons: When will Killian Hayes start at point guard?

Detroit Pistons starter or backup: What’s in store for Killian Hayes?

With some bad teams, a player like Killian Hayes might step right in as the starter and run the offense. Perhaps not well, because as a general rule, rookies are not good, but Hayes could get the baptism by fire that LaMelo Ball is likely to get with the Charlotte Hornets.

That probably won’t be the case for Hayes in Detroit. Derrick Rose is on this team, and while he’s not ideally suited to start considering his physical and health limitations, that might not matter in the end.

Last season Rose played on a minutes limit and was excellent when he was on the floor, but his health immediately suffered when he extended beyond it. On this roster, given that head coach Dwane Casey will default to trying to win, Rose can expect to be extended beyond his likely minutes limit.

This could mean that Hayes will end up being an emergency starter in place of Rose when he inevitably misses games.

On the other hand, Casey might surprise the world by keeping Rose firmly ensconced in that backup spot and hand the reins to Hayes, but run more of the offense through Blake Griffin instead in order to help bring the rookie along slowly.

At this point, however, with training camp and the season starting so quickly after the draft, expect Casey to bring Hayes along as slowly as possible.