Earlier tonight, news broke that the Detroit Pistons were trading the Houston Rockets for the No. 16 overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft.
That trade is now official and the Pistons have used the No. 16 pick to select center Isaiah Stewart out of Washington.
Detroit is targeting center Isaiah Stewart with No. 16, source tells ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) November 19, 2020
From ESPN:
Strengths
– Shredded, powerful frame. Already has the body to battle with NBA bigs. Wide shoulders, long arms. Mobile for his size. Body type that could thicken up but has done a great job of staying in shape — 7-4 wingspan helps him play above the rim when he has a runway.
– Plays with tremendous intensity. Relentless pursuing offensive rebounds. Has the strength to defend the post and clean up the defensive glass as well. Sets hard screens.
– Made 77% of his free throws in college. Should be able to expand his range to 3 in time. Gets great rotation with sound overall mechanics. Can make basic reads as well.
Improvement areas
– Strong and long but lacks elite height at 6-foot-9 and doesn’t make up for it with great leaping ability.
– Struggles to defend on the perimeter. Will compete on switches but has to rely more on energy to get by than foot speed. Not a natural rim protector. Lack of standstill pop hurts him in that regard. How does he fit in to an NBA defense if he’s not going to guard the perimeter or protect the rim? Zone defense should helped hide some of his defensive deficiencies.
– Touch around the rim comes and goes vs. length. Can make face-up jumpers and has stretch ability, but still adding more ways to score to his repertoire. Not an advanced passer.
Projected role: Energy big
Nation, how do you like this pick?
