The Detroit Pistons were rumored to be interested in trading down from No. 5 in the NBA Draft as teams were looking to position themselves to take big man Donovan Clingan. Instead, the team kept the pick and surprised with the selection of forward Ron Holland.
Holland averaged 20.6 points, 6.6 rebounds, 3.2 assists, and 2.5 steals with the G League Ignite. He shot just 44% overall including just 24% from 3 and 76% from the free-throw line.
He has a 6-foot-11 wingspan, and looks like the kind of wing Trajan Langdon loved in New Orleans. The question, of course, is how much he can shoot, especially as he joins a team bereft of shooting.
Langdon spent time in his introductory press conference talking about the team needing shooting and spacing around Cade Cunningham. Now Holland joins fellow unreliable shooters Jaden Ivey, Ausar Thompson, and Jalen Duren among the team’s young core.
That being said, in an NBA Draft without elite talent, Holland is one of the few with a truly elite skill. Per Roshan Potluri (and great Pistons fan) at Swish Theory, Holland averaged 6.71 unassisted rim attempts per game, which is double the volume of players like Paolo Banchero and Paul George.
There is also the G League context. The G League Ignite were terrible. The team no longer exists. Nobody excelled on that team because the roster construction was such a mess. On one hand, you could say the defensive talent in the league mean you should discount what Holland was able to do. On the other hand, you could say that on a team with no flow and no spacing, Holland was able to maximize space so expertly that he was still able to get to the rim at will. He’s bigger Jaden Ivey.
Is he actually Detroit’s Jaden Ivey replacement? We shall see. But the first consequential decision of the Langdon era has arrived. He decided on the pick. He decided not to trade it for more assets. He got his man.