The Detroit Pistons extended their winning streak to three games with a Friday night win over the Memphis Grizzlies. With only 16 games left in the regular season, the Pistons are in an excellent spot to clinch the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference.
Head coach J.B. Bickerstaff will use the last month of the season to finalize his playoff rotation, and one Piston is running out of time to prove he deserves to be in it.
Caris LeVert returned to action on Friday after missing the last three games with a wrist injury, and he picked up where he left off. And for Pistons fans, that is not a good thing.
Caris LeVert Is Playing Himself Out of Pistons' Postseason Plans
LeVert continued to struggle from the field on Friday, finishing with four points while shooting 2-of-10 (20.0%) from the field and 0-of-5 from deep in 23 minutes. He added three turnovers, and the Pistons ended up losing his minutes by 10 points. In the 25 minutes LeVert didn't play, the Pistons were plus-26 against the Grizzlies.
This has been a trend for LeVert in Detroit all season.
He is in the midst of the worst offensive season of his career, making 31.9% of his threes and 41% of his field goal attempts. He has a career-high 16.5% turnover rate and career lows in free-throw rate and rebound percentage. Therefore, it shouldn't be a coincidence that LeVert has the worst on-off rating on the team. The Pistons are a whopping 11.1 points per 100 possessions worse with him on the floor than off, per Cleaning The Glass.
Bickerstaff clearly trusts LeVert's veteran competence and defensive intensity. Despite the 31-year-old's struggles, he's had consistent minutes off the bench, maintaining a 20-minute role. It is becoming harder with each game to see how LeVert will be a positive player for the Pistons in the playoffs.
The postseason is more about your weaknesses than your strengths. Opposing teams will make plans to exploit Detroit's weaknesses. One of those is LeVert's lack of offensive juice. Teams will leave him wide open and pack the paint. If the veteran shooting guard can't make them pay, there is very little he can do on the defensive side of the ball to justify playing time.
Luckily, the Pistons have a ton of options in the backcourt. Marcus Sasser, Kevin Huerter, and Daniss Jenkins can all play in LeVert's place. Bickerstaff could even give LeVert's minutes to Ron Holland or Javonte Green in the playoffs.
LeVert has to show that he can be a positive offensive player between now and the postseason. Otherwise, it's only a matter of time before he finds himself a healthy scratch.