In the midst of the first significant stretch of poor shooting of his still-young career, Jaden Ivey didn’t waver when asked if he was beginning to overthink what he needs to do on the floor.
After a hot first three weeks to his rookie season, the Detroit Pistons‘ fifth overall pick’s efficiency nosedived in mid-November. It coincided with Cade Cunningham exiting the rotation with a shin stress fracture, but there are likely deeper reasons as well. Beyond the faster pace of the NBA game and NBA schedule, Ivey is also adapting to more-intelligent defenses who know how to make him uncomfortable.
Ivey wasn’t worried.
“I don’t think I overthink it at all,” Ivey said during post-practice availability on Dec. 10. “I just try to play my game. I feel like I haven’t been doing the things I’ve been doing in other games. Kinda just going through a shooting slump, I would say, a little adversity. It’s nothing I can’t handle and I’ve been in situations like that before. Gotta keep growing, keep learning and keep feeding off my teammates for sure.”
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Ivey appears to be on the verge of turning his rookie season around, as he played one of best offensive games of his career on Tuesday. The fifth-overall pick scored a career-high 30 points on 10-for-14 shooting, dished five assists and made eight of his career-high 11 free throw attempts. The effort didn’t lead to a win, as Lauri Markkanen scored 38 points to help the Jazz win, 126-111. But Ivey has now strung together multiple solid performances in a row, and is averaging 16.8 points on 55.8% overall shooting and 40% shooting from 3 in his last four games.
The key for Ivey is sustaining efficiency. From Nov. 14 until Dec. 11, he shot 36.1% overall and 25.4% from 3. His dry spell wasn’t a slump as much as it was a reflection that the rookie is still growing. He’s taking steps in the right direction.
“Just trying to, every game, just improve whether it’s defensively or offensively,” Ivey said after Tuesday’s loss. “Just playing with my energy, my speed and just trying to do what I can do to help this team. As a team we have to collectively stay focused together. This is a tough one to live with, but we just stick together and it’ll be sunshine in the end.”
Ivey generally scores the bulk of his points in the paint and hit six midrange jumpers against Utah. But his gift is attacking the basket, and an encouraging sign for his offensive development is his 11 free-throw attempts. He’s a blur with the ball in his hands, and most defenders have trouble containing him without help. Even on nights where his jumper isn’t falling, he can make an impact with his free throws.
“I don’t think nobody can stay in front of him one-on-one, especially when he turns his jets on,” Jalen Duren said after the game. “When he gets downhill and the defense collapses, you just have options from there. I feel like it’s second-to-none.”
But Ivey was also part of the Pistons’ second-half miscues that helped Utah outscore them, 65-51, in the final two periods. The Jazz shot 53.1% in the second half and had little issue generating open shots all night. Ivey turned the ball over five times, three in the second half. His last miscue was a bad inbounds pass midway through the fourth quarter set up a 3-pointer from Rudy Gay that extended Utah’s lead to 16.
“We’ve got to get our spirit back,” Dwane Casey said after the game. “That’s one thing, and you get it back by being successful defensively. Getting stops. We’re going to be able to score, we have enough scorers. But until we make that decision individually first and then collectively, ‘I’m not going to let you score.’ We talk about it. We drill it each and every day. But once we come out here, for whatever reason, it’s a different story. So, we’re going to continue to work at it. But the most important thing is getting that competitive spirit.”
Contact Omari Sankofa II at osankofa@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @omarisankofa.