I’m confused by the amount of comments I see about how it’s crazy that Ivey didn’t get more minutes and that Killian was bad.
For Ivey, Monty has been super transparent. If you get blown by and cannot play defense, he’s going to hold you accountable. Tonight wasn’t his night offensively and so it makes sense between not having his offense going for him and being bad defensively that he only got the minutes he did.
For Killian, Monty has been very clear about him as well. He likes that he’s a big guard, that always makes the right decision, plays good defense. He hasn’t once said, I really like his ability to score or space the floor. That’s not why he’s getting his minutes so please stop box score watching and pay attention to what he’s actually contributing to the team.
It doesn’t matter. If you’re talking about how would this team look as a legit title contender, then both of these guys, Hayes and Ivey, would be players off of the bench. Cunningham, Duren and Thompson are the serious people on this team and the starting core. To compete at a high level the Pistons still need another guard and another forward who can start with those three and provide both reliable offense and a professional level of defense. Guys like Ivey, Hayes and Stewart need to be the core of a dominant bench unit.