One has been helping seafood everywhere reach its full flavor potential (their words, not mine!) and one just had a 51-point performance. I’ll let greater minds figure out which one is worth more, but with a win last night, the Pistons find themselves within reach of .500 basketball by some time next season. Maybe. And what a coincidence, as something similar could be said of the team that lost, the Orlando Magic. Sitting now at an 18-53 record, last night’s only scheduled game did at least provide us with the above-mentioned monster effort by Saddiq Bey and that’s. About. It.
Did I see anything else in this game last night? Maybe. Should I talk about it? Double-maybe.
It is the poor carpenter who blames his tools, so let’s review the sh*t out of the Pistons and Magic showdown extravaganza…
Saddiq Bey – 39 MIN, 17-27 FG, 10-14 3PT, 7-10 FT, 9 REB, 4 AST, 3 STL, 1 TO, +11, 51 PTS. So of course I was going to focus on this performance. And I won’t take credit for some of these tidbits, but they are quite fascinating. First, these 51 points were the most for any player in their first two seasons, selected outside the lottery in NBA history. Not bad for a #19. And while there was a bit of stat-padding in the end (not even closer to Booker levels) and the NBA has seen an uptick in 50+ and 40+ games the past three weeks, the offense looks pretty good going through him. Lastly, since donning his headband 44 games ago, Bey has average 19/6/3. No headband? 12/6/2. I’m sure it’s not the headband, but what this tidbit presupposes is; maybe it is?
Marvin Bagley III – 32 MIN, 7-15 FG, 2-5 3PT, 4-10 FT, 11 REB, 2 AST, 2 STL, 2 TO, +0, 20 PTS. Bagley has been averaging 16/7/1 on 58% shooting since the All-Star break. I’m not sure what to make of his tenure with the Kings, but it’s easy to forget he’s just 23 and a change of scenery might have really worked here. It’s at least something worth trying before changing your father, ya know?
Franz Wagner – 31 MIN, 10-15 FG, 2-3 3PT, 4-5 FT, 5 REB, 2 AST, 1 BLK, 1 TO, -6, 26 PTS. Developing nicely with the space he’s given. Frankly, the Magic should be feeding him more, but you also don’t want to lose Cole Anthony’s aggressiveness at attacking the rim. Once Franz is averaging 35+ minutes a game, you’ll know that the Magic are a serious team again.
Cole Anthony – 33 MIN, 4-15 FG, 2-6 3PT, 2-2 FT, 5 REB, 7 AST, 1 STL, 1 BLK, 4 TO, -5, 12 PTS. I realize the spectrum on him is a bit wide, many see him as a sixth man, a shooting guard, etc. But I’ve always been a bit more bullish and think while Fultz and Suggs will slot at the 1-2 next season, Anthony certainly has a role to play. A Lou Williams-type perhaps.
Jay is a longtime Razzball everything who consumes an egregious amount of Makers Mark as a vehicle to gain wisdom and augment his natural glow. Living in the D.C. area, he also likes spending time visiting the local parks and feeding lettuce to any turtles he encounters, including Mitch McConnell. You can follow him on Twitter @jaywrong.
