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DETROIT – Just over a month ago, the Detroit Pistons and many other teams made a flurry of moves to complete their roster. With 11 new faces in the squad, the Pistons are one of the teams with the most turnover.
As the Pistons continue to develop their new culture and chemistry among the players, fans began to see the competitiveness the team envisioned.
Some of that intensity comes from rookie center Isaiah Stewart. The Rochester, NY native 6-9 made his Pistons’ Game 3 debut and has been on the rotation ever since. He made the most of those minutes and now sits atop the league averaging four offensive rebounds per game.
Pistons coach Dwane Casey knew they would get that intensity when they selected Stewart with the 16th pick in this year’s draft at the University of Washington. On top of that high energy, they’ve landed a smart player who’s always ready to learn.
“(He) thoughtful, he’s just one of the few guys, in my years in the NBA and doing workouts that asked questions like, ‘Am I doing things correctly with the defense of pick and roll, how do you teach it, what is your philosophy? Casey said.
Now a professional, Stewart has gone on to be a student of the game. The second youngest player on the team has taken advantage of the veterans and coaches around him as he strives to improve himself every day.
“Whether it’s learning from the best coaches, I always try to learn something new every day that is going to help me,” said Stewart, whose style of play has drawn comparisons to the former great Dennis Rodman of the Pistons.
One of those things that helped Stewart was to focus on the next room quickly and not dwell on any mistakes he might be making.
“If I miss a shot, or if I get a turnover, if I make a mistake, I just have to do a quick spin because the game is going on and I have to be ready for the next game,” said Stewart. . “So I just tell myself that I can’t take that back, move on and make up for that.”
This allowed him to maintain this intensity and play on mistakes. In Friday’s 96-93 win over the Celtics, Stewart was pushed back on a rough patch, but caught up with it overnight against Tristan Thompson and Daniel Theis. The rookie helped limit Thompson to five points and Theis to two.
“Not really concerned with the way he bounces off (the mistakes) he’s doing a good job playing through that,” Casey said. “He makes mistakes, but they’re tough mistakes, which I love, and his future is really going to be bright here in the NBA.”
More: Take away from the Pistons’ first victory of the season
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