The Ausar Thompson Dilemma
For the first 18 games of the Season assar Thompson was starting for the Detroit Pistons and he was playing well and he there are points in the season where he was like third on the rookie ladder behind chatt and wmy obviously and he was putting up some
Pretty fun stat lines aside from the shooting part um while being a like a 15% three-point shooter uh right now sorry Thompson the Outlook was like really good really fun it was like Hey assar Thompson’s doing some really cool things we even got assar Thompson on a Ben Taylor thinking basketball video
Which I think for someone like him to be talking about the Pistons I think that that’s a big deal um but then assar Thompson has gotten taken out of the starting lineup after 18 games I think the last the game against the Lakers was the last one he got taken out of the
Lineup and um he hasn’t been the same since and I think seeing what happens when a player goes to the bench on this Pistons team truly um just showcases how unhelpful the Detroit Pistons bench is um for those of you that like the channel feel free to subscribe feel free
To follow feel free to hit the like button it really helps me out and I appreciate it thank you guys for being here now let’s get to the rest of the video I saw a k khil um I think that’s his name on lock the locked on Pistons
He’s also talked about this um so go give him a follow as well it’s really I’m kind of concerned I I think that 33 games into the season it kind of worries me how poorly assar Thompson is playing with the bench unit that he is currently confined to um and again the Detroit
Bench is like a really obvious problem about the front office and what they have and haven’t been able to do a stretch a backup stretch five would be would be prime for this I wish that assar for his like lack of being able to space the floor Detroit does not have
The other uh floor spacers that would be would make him be more able to operate um cuz people are like assar Thompson just because AAR Thompson can’t shoot doesn’t mean it sh Thompson can’t do anything positive on offense I think we often conflate the two um there have
Been a lot of people on in the league that can’t shoot a lick but are still providing stuff on offense however the way this current roster is set up the bench especially it it’s it’s tough for assar Thompson to do anything offensively when you’re playing
With this Ben like and this is also the same it goes the same for for killan hay too killing hay is also not really getting I know that killing Hayes gets a lot of hate but even killan hay I feel like the from starter to the bench the bench
Rotation like it it’s it’s like you’re on the Island of Misfit Toys but you know that you’re not supposed to be there and then you’re supposed to form a basketball team I don’t know where I’m going with this but if you look up I’m going to pull up the splits the
Basketball reference splits ofar assar Thompson you can just see how much differently he plays when he’s starting versus when he’s on the bench cuz the way Monty does it is sometimes he’ll do like all bench slimes but the the numbers are clearly different when assar Thompson is playing
With the bench unit and this I this I think really stagnates his development because this is not a 2003 style NBA roster like this team is built with like the 1980s in mind and I am exaggerating a little bit but it it is what it is and
I’m not a stat expert by any means but I’m going to go through stuff that I have seen and noticed in assar Thompson splits it’s really interesting too it’s like when assar Thompson plays 30 to 39 minutes per game his his true shooting is 569 right when he
Plays less than 10 minutes per game his true shooting is 347 and you can see that there’s a drop off in his true shooting and it’s correlated to how many minutes he plays and I feel like it’s correlated directly to who he’s being uh put out on the court with and if it’s
The bench lineup yeah you’re everything’s going to get worse because this bench lineup is not going to be able to create opportunities for you the same way that K gunningham and jadeen ivy can and it’s really frustrating to see that because now assar Thompson’s in a space where um the minutes that he’s
Getting in the NBA right now is not really helpful towards any kind of development whatsoever I want to personally seear Thompson the season is lost by the way we we we’re three and 30 as I make this video uh the season is lost so I would rather just have assar
Thompson play 30 minutes per game now whether whether that is in the NBA or whether that’s in the in the G League it does not matter to me but I feel like he just cannot play this amount of minutes with this bench lineup I I feel like that’s a fair ask
Right playing in a lineup with wisan bur slivers and Killian Hayes is not going to help lar Thompson grow and develop and that especially especially overnight it’s really night and day seeing how much assar Thompson was was like producing and how well he was playing
When he was with the starters and I know it didn’t always lead to wins but you just saw that his play was just elevated by being able to play with Kate being able to play off of Ivy or whatnot and I I feel like there is no player in
The NBA right now that would benefit from just developing a corner three than assar Thompson if assar Thompson ever gets that or three I think that he just becomes a way better player for this Detroit Pistons team and it’s going to take a while it’s going to take
Time and if that never shows up I don’t know I really hope it does there’s a there’s a part of me he’s like a 70% free throw shooter there’s a part of me that really hopes that like he could get that together but it’s the NBA it’s not
It’s it’s an easier said than done thing as we look at uh Killian Hayes’s development of his jump shot that which has not not yeah anyway and you can also see in the plus minus over here and I know that plus minus isn’t really a stat
To like to deduce performance but in the Piston’s case it really drops off cuz when he plays 30 to 39 minutes the the plus minus is 8.6 and when he plays 10 to 19 minutes it becomes minus 33 sorry- 31.3 and I feel like that bench lineup gets so bad
Look at the the offensive rating when he plays 10 to 19 minutes is so bad because that bench is so bad like the bench performance is just subpar to say the least and it frustrates me that Monty Williams does Trot out the all bench lineup often and I hope he’s steering
Away from that I don’t think Monty Williams understands well I hope he does I hope Mony Williams really understands how detrimental this all bench lineup is is to assar Thompson like there’s nobody like assar Thompson’s offensive skill set is one that needs to be helped by other people and we’ve we’ve seen what
We heard about like putting assar Thompson at the four in the short rle or whatever and that like kind of I feel like disappeared a little bit I don’t know what really happened with that um but then when assar Thompson like plays in with the starters he is kind of just
Limited to a corner role which is also isn’t good for him at this juncture so if he’s not going to play 30 minutes send him to the g- league that’s what that’s my stance right now because this bench is so bad there are a lot of Pistons players on this team that are
Young and need reps but I don’t think that all of them need reps together because I don’t think that all of them playing together is helping each other out I don’t think it’s it’s weird cuz it’s like whoever you put on that bench their output seems to like
Decrease it feels like part of the ship part of the crew kind of where it’s like you’re these and again these players have been set up to fail by the front office this whole thing has to do with poor roster construction if I if anything
Um and it it’s a real good example of how poor roster construction can really interrupt and coaching decisions can really interrupt and stagnate a player’s development and I’m I’m not too I’m not super worried but there is cause for concern especially with RAR Thompson because the sky the sky seems to be the
Limit for this guy like defensively he’s one already one of the most impressive like defenders in the like in the league like seeing his defensive capabilities he’s and he just got here that’s nuts and he has the he has like other worldly athleticism right and you see the
Flashes of him being able to like cut through the lane and shoot the mid-range or shoot like a high layup or whatever but then when he goes to the bench it’s like he’s a complet when he plays with the bench it’s like he’s a completely different player and I don’t want the
Season to go to waste I don’t think it will but I just I just want better for this whole roster I this roster is just not coherent and Troy Weaver needs to lose his job but yeah bad roster construction I I didn’t I’ve seen bad roster construction
Before on these piston teams but this is like the firsthand example of why how bad roster construction really can get in the way of developing younger players and I don’t know how what the fix is with this but with this roster it it’s really puzzling there was a game
Where assar played like eight minutes or something and I was like okay that’s fine that’s where we at whatever
After starting the season strong with the Detroit Pistons, Ausar Thompson has been relegated to playing with one of the worst bench lineups in the NBA and I’m very concerned.
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25 Comments
I blame Monty Williams. He as so good for my fantasy
He needs to be in the G-League. Not because he's bad, but because he needs the "lab" time he can get there to get the reps on the things he needs to get better at to really be unlocked.
He's not going to get 20+ shots a night and 8+ 3 attempts a night at the NBA level, but you can force feed him those shots in the G-League.
Same goes for Killian (they should have done it a long time ago, like his rookie year after the injury when it was clear in his 7 games before the injury that his scoring was much more of a work in progress than they thought), because for 3+ years now he hasn't gotten the consistent volume on shot attempts in games to finally get over the hump; you can see in games he's thinking about his percentages on each shot he takes, fretting over if it's going to be another miss (to the point he's in his own head so much that it's affected him at the line and ledt to his FT% CRATERING – generally, you only see a player's FT% drop more than a single standard deviation from their career average if they're in some kind of confidence/mental funk). Get him to the G-League for the rest of the season, force the coach to run a heliocentric system around him to force feed him 30+ shots a night (10 3s – 5 off the dribble, 5 off the catch, 10 middies, and 10 lay-ups/floaters/dunks – 5 with his right hand, 5 with his left) plus plenty of on-ball reps as the ball-handler in pick and rolls/pops, Iverson cuts, drive and kicks, DHOs, dribble-cut-dribble sequences, etc plus off-ball reps as a screener and cutter (so he's more useful to Cade and Ivey when they're on-ball). Do the same for Ausar.
And for the love of God, hire some shooting and general offense coaches/personal trainers with solid credentials on their resumes of guys they've improved at the NBA level and have them running Kill and Ausar through 8+ hours of drills and Driveline-esque shot mechanics film sessions on days when they aren't playing a G-League game. It's a lost season anyways, what does the team lose by giving them lab time like this in the G-League?
You spent lottery picks on both guys. Yet for 3+ years you've barely given Kill development resources besides force feeding him minutes at the NBA level where he barely gets to take shots (so he never gets comfortable taking them, so he's never confident taking them, so he's always in his head and paranoid about missing ie a formula for permanent inefficiency) and you're about to let him walk in FA if you don't trade him for a 2nd rounder at the deadline – a waste of a lottery pick and 4 years of Kill's, the fans', the coaching staff's, and the org as a whole's time. And you're about a half a year into doing the same thing with Ausar. You still have a chance to salvage enough of Kill to make him an above average bench rotation guard you can resign to a bargain of a deal this off-season (because no way does another team throw him a bag bigger than twice the vet minimum a year over 3 years after what he's done so far regardless of what improvement he could show from here on out, and that's a deal the Pistons should definitely match), and you have a chance to completely nip in the bud the same thing from happening to Ausar.
Get them to the G-League for at least 5 games a piece (i would prefer 10 for Kill and the rest of the G-League season for Ausar). Get them trainers to work their asses off on drills and film they need to improve and basically pay them to live with the players.
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, TROY – YOU CAN STILL SAVE THESE GUYS. SAVING THEM HELPS THE OTHER LOTTERY PICKS AND SAVES THEM TOO!
I had to drop him from my fantasy team š
The Shoutout to thinking basketball is beatiful
I'm all for having Ausar in the G-League for awhile so he can actually play (same for Sasser, actually). There's a few reasons I'd prefer some G-League time rather than starting him on the NBA squad:
1) Without being able to shoot, he's not the SF this starting unit needs at this moment. Outside of Cade's exhausted Rockets game, he has finally been able to find his scoring groove with even average shooting around him.
2) He's not physically ready to thrive as a non-shooting 4, if that's his future. If I'm remembering right, the average height and weight of PFs drafted this year was about 6'9 and 230lbs. Ausar is 3 inches and 10lbs under the average. And even a lot of those guys are going to have to put on grown man weight and muscle to reach their potential. You can be undersized at the 4, but usually only if you can shoot. And Ausar hasn't really played the PF role historically, either. Now he has had some amount of offensive success at this role so far early in the season, but it's typically when he's making backdoor cuts and using his agility to avoid getting crowded. He's a good lob threat and has playmaking ability, but he's not without competition for that role. And that's the third issue.
3) Ausar's presence on the starting lineup hurts Duren's development. It's plain to see that Duren is Cade's preferred lob threat. He is athletic, has some playmaking ability, and plays very well off of Cade. However he's much more physical than Ausar, and able to play through contact due to his size. And, at only 20, he will improve rapidly as he grows. When it comes to being a physical, non-shooting, athletic lob threat, he's 4 inches and 30lbs ahead of Ausar in that race, and a year ahead in experience, despite being younger. Some people might say, "There's more to Ausar than that!" And they'd be right. However, that's basically what Ausar's been doing this whole time.
Ausar was able to carve out a role with Duren out. In games without Duren, Ausar was averaging 10.3PPG, whereas he has only averaged 8.2 in games he's played with Duren. Now that's not a gigantic drop off for Ausar, but the issue is less about Ausar's offense when Duren's around, and more about what you do with Duren when you're trying to feed Ausar.
In games where both Ausar and Duren played, whenever Ausar has 10 or more FG attempts, Duren averages 9.0PPG on 8.3 shots with 54% FG.
In games where both Ausar and Duren played, whenever Ausar has 9 or less FG attempts, Duren averages 15.2PPG on 9.5 shots with 69% FG.
Neither provides spacing and they both want to take the same shots. If we want to be able to keep both of them, we'll have to either get Ausar to develop a shot, wait until he grows significantly stronger, or start making use of his playmaking ability and go back to developing him as a Guard. In the meantime, trying to develop Ausar on the starting lineup hurts our starters, while trying to develop him on the bench hurts Ausar. So the G-League seems like the best solution for now.
If he is only playing 15 minutes, he needs to press full court. Monty doesnāt know how to use the young Swiss Army knife
His ceiling is definitely the new knick og. But that's a damn good player. Og however had Toronto's development staff whereas ausar does not. So we'll see what happens.
his name is Ausar not Ashar
I donāt give a good god damn about the Pistons but I just love listening to Kofie
Agree. Start and get the benefit of playing with the best possible group or go to the G-League and find his shot
I think it was a mistake by Williams to bench Thompson. He was on a clear roll and damaged his psyche. While itās worrying in the sense that he hasnāt responded well, heās still basically a kid. Let him grow from this and learn. Heāll be fine.
when we started losing a bunch of games, i literally only watched for ausar. now heās not even put into ANY position where heāll thrive smh.
The Pistons Bench is the like the Upside Down version of the NBA.
this is completely aside from the video kofie but I really fucking love that sweater where can I find it my sister would fucking love it. also I subbed
cogently reasoned
It's the Alec Burks experience. The man doesn't know how to move the ball. He either shoots or passes specifically for the assist. The ball stops with him.
Nothing but excuses! Where was the excuses for Coach Casey and his staff? Coach Casey had this same team minus Cade and Asur and was able to win 17 games while going into full tank mode the last month of the year and nobody questioned the āroster constructionā or made excuses for him
Front office and Monty are š® šļø
Troy Weaver is a fraud.
He doesn't need G league time. This team is SO bad he should be able to develop and get minutes, But the coaching is so bad that they don't utilize him the correct way.
You're in the middle years of the Celtics and Sixers rebuild where nobody is trying to construct a roster, they're just aqcuiring value wherever they can and leaving it to rot. The problem is both of those teams developed and fostered their talent much better than this. You still need guys like Paul Pierce or JJ Redick on that team to develop your talent for you.
Ausar Thompsonās defense is already among the best. Now imagine sending him to the G-League, letting him develop his offensive game more, and he will be an AMAZING player like a 2-way type of player where he can be effective on both sides of the court.
Ausar Thompson is in the Jarred Vanderbilt mold right now, where he provides nothing on offense and is an elite defender. I feel like the Pistons have to treat him like how Golden State does where he gets the ball and tries to playmake for others.
I've been saying bad roster since day one…. my feeling on the Pistons, is that prior to the lottery they had a plan in place. I think that plan revolved around landing the 1 and Webby. And that's fine…. make a plan so when execution time comes you know where you're going. Problem is, they only had one plan. And that plan went belly up when they didn't get the 1. But then, at that point where they didn't win the lottery like they expected, they stuck to the same plan. Every move they made looks like it was designed to play with Webby.
You and me man… Matching buffs… Btw this video is super good