2015-16 Detroit Pistons mid-season roster review

Every year, the staff at DetroitBadBoys like to write player previews before the season starts. Part of those previews are to take an educated guess at what the player's stat line will be. Now that 41 games have been completed, let's see how well the writers did.

Brandon Jennings

Prediction: 60+ games - 20 minutes, 11 points and 4 assists a game on 42.0/37.0 shooting.

Actual: 10 games, 17.3 MPG, 6.4 PPG and 3.3 APG on 35.6/26.7 shooting.

Admittedly, I was hoping that Jennings would come back how he was playing in January 2015. We have not seen that yet. With only 41 games left, he'll only get a chance at a maximum of 51 games, so my hope for an early return was far off. Suffice it to say, I was way off on most accounts (so far).

Reggie Bullock

Prediction: 30 games, 11 minutes per game, 4 points per game, 38 percent three-point shooting.

Actual: 17 games, 5.1 MPG, 0.4 PPG, 10.0-3P%

This is possibly the most unsurprising upset. After playing as well as he did in the preseason, many hoped that he had found his spot with Stan Van Gundy and the Pistons had another steal with the Marcus Morris trade. That has turned out not to be so. Looks like the "other Reggie" showed up.

Darrun Hilliard

Prediction: 15 games, 10 minutes per game, 2 points on 48 percent true shooting, 2 rebounds, 1 assist

Actual: 13 games, 6.3 MPG, 2.7 PPG on 42.9-percent true shooting, 0.8 RPG and 0.2 APG.

Hilliard has gotten in more games than expected, yet has not been given much opportunity. While we could say his shooting numbers are not where we would like them to be, it is difficult to shoot well coming off the bench where you've been sitting for over an hour and are ice cold. His time in the Drive has been encouraging though.

Marcus Morris

Prediction: 27 minutes per game, 11 points per game, 54% true shooting percentage, 1.5 threes, 37% three point percentage, 4.5 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 1 steal

Actual: 36.5 MPG, 14.0 PPG, 51.1-percent true shooting percentage, 3.3 threes, 29.5 3P%, 5.4 RPG, 2.1 APG, 0.9 SPG

Marcus Morris has been a steal. While his shooting could still improve, he is stretching the floor when needed and bringing amazing perimeter defense. There are many aspects of his game that remind us of He who shall not be named, but at the same time, Morris seems light years better than him.

Ersan Ilyasova

Prediction: 25 minutes per game, 12.5 points, 1.4 three-point field goals, 6 rebounds

Actual: 27.6 MPG, 11.1 PPG, 4.2 3PAPG, 5.5 RPG

Ersan is not playing the best of his career, but he has been valuable. He leads the league in charges drawn. NBAMiner.com has him with 25 charges drawn, nine more than the next player. However, Langlois posted the following on Dec. 16th.

Oops .. that's drawn charge No. 27 for Ilyasova. Ricky Rubio is No. 2 at 22.

— Keith Langlois (@Keith_Langlois) December 17, 2015

Either way, those are as good as steals. He's been worth the gamble.

Steve Blake

Prediction: 30 games, 9 minutes per game, 2 points, 49 percent true shooting, 1.5 assists

Actual: 29 games, 15.5 MPG, 4.3 PPG, 50.8 true shooting, 3.0 APG

It took him a minute to get back into it after his concussion, but Steve Blake was a steady backup point guard for most of his time. He wasn't strong enough to carry the bench, but he was capable enough to allow Jennings all the time he needed to recover and make it difficult on Van Gundy on when to decide to swap out Jennings for Blake. He might not reach 30 games though.

Aron Baynes

Prediction: 18 minutes per game, 7 points, 5 rebounds, 54% FG, 84% FT

Actual: 13.5 MPG, 5.2 PPG, 4.2 RPG, 48.3 FG%, 72.7 FT%

Baynes has been exactly as the DBB users have stated: Lobster Claws. There are many rebounds that should be his that he simply does not get. At this point, his contract looks a bit bloated, but some of his numbers are low due to Andre Drummond beasting to begin the year and not needing Baynes much of that time.

Stanley Johnson

Prediction: 27 minutes per game, 11 points shooting 42/38/80, 3.5 rebounds, 1.2 three pointers

Actual: 22.3 MPG, 8.2 PPG, 37.4/32.5/78.8 shooting, 3.9 rebounds, 2.8 three pointers

Again, I was sipping some kool-aid. How well he played in Summer League and Preseason had me seeing images of grandeur. And they may come. But at this time, Johnson is a very good rookie who still has room to grow. I mean, I love Stanley Johnson, but could you imagine if he shot the ball better?

Reggie Jackson

Prediction: 34 minutes per game, 18 points, 8 assists, 34% 3PT

Actual: 31.0 MPG, 19.4 PPG, 6.6 APG, 34.9-percent 3P%

Reggie Jackson is not playing as well as he did to end the season last year, but he is playing better than many expected. His assists have started to go up as the chemistry between his teammates have been building, so he still has a shot to get to 8 assists per game. Let's just hope he becomes more consistent.

Andre Drummond

Prediction: 80 games, 33 minutes per game, 17 points per game, 14.5 rebounds per game, 2 blocks per game, 54% field goal shooting.

Actual: 34.4 MPG, 17.6 PPG, 15.5 RPG, 1.5 BPG, 52.2 FG%

I wonder why revken did not take a stab at his free throw percentage. Andre has exceeded expectations to some degree, and yet still has room to develop in others. However, Ken was near on the money in his prediction of Drummond's production.

Anthony Tolliver

Prediction: 80 games, 16 minutes per game, 6.5 points per game, 2.5 rebounds per game, 37% 3-pt. shooting.

Actual: 19.5 MPG, 5.2 PPG, 3.4 RPG, 35.8 3P%

Tolliver still gives his everything, every game. He struggled to shoot to start the season, as did most Pistons, but he's starting to regain form.

Joel Anthony

Prediction: 30 games, 9 minutes per game, 2 points, 2 rebounds, .8 blocks

Actual: 12 games, 4.2 MPG, 0.8 PPG, 1.2 RPG, 0.3 BPG

Thanks (?) to Baynes, Anthony has not needed to be used that much. He's fine in his bench mentorship role.

Spencer Dinwiddie

Prediction: 61 games, 12 minutes per game, 5 points per game on 56 percent true shooting, 2.6 assists, 1 rebound

Actual: 9 games, 12.3 MPG, 4.4 PPG, 46.1 true shooting, 1.4 APG, 1.0 RPG

Because of Blake and now Jennings, Dinwiddie has not had much of an opportunity. With one non-guaranteed contract year let, he'd better hope he gets another chance soon.

Jodie Meeks

Prediction: 17 minutes per game, 8 points per game on 58 percent true shooting, 1 three point field goal per game at 41 percent

Actual: 8.5 MPG, 1.0 PPG, 20 true shooting, 0 three pointers attempted.

He has only played two games due to injury. However, he could be coming back before the All-Star break.

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope

Prediction: 14 points, 52 percent TS, 2 three point shots, 37 percent, 3 rebounds, 1.5 steals

Actual: 14.4 PPG, 52.1 true shooting, 4.9 3PAPG, 32.2 3P%, 3.7 RPG, 1.6 SPG