Ausar Thompson doesn’t need to become a great shooter.
He needs to become a good enough shooter that defenses can’t ignore him. He doesn’t need to become a great ball handler, either. He just needs to be good enough to punish the defenses when they do neglect the Detroit Pistons’ most important forward.
That’s the path to stardom for Thompson, and through three preseason games, I’m starting to believe it’s a real possibility.
If I had written this after Detroit’s first preseason game, I would have said
some very irresponsible things. I would have said Ausar’s shooting was fixed. I would have said he looks a lot like Rip Hamilton, hitting those middies. I would have said maybe he can be Baby Kawhi this season.
Luckily, I gave it a few games.
The shooting that looked so smooth and under control in Game 1 fell off a cliff in Game 2. That’s not to say one performance is indicative of how he’ll look in the regular season, but it is good to look at each game and see how he was shooting.
Against the Suns, he took advantage of a defense that didn’t respect his shooting. The Suns went under every screen, which you rarely see when the actions occur inside the arc. Thompson took advantage with a variety of easy pull-up jumpers around the free-throw line. That has always been his comfort zone, but the shots looked crispy in that game.
It was as confident as Ausar has looked shooting the ball in the NBA, in fact.
Against Washington, with Cade Cunningham and Jalen Duren sitting, we saw what it looks like when an opposing defense focuses on Ausar… and it wasn’t pretty. Every shot was contested except a leakout dunk early in the first quarter. His 3-pointer was wayyyyy off, and a couple of contested fadeaways were somewhere in the DMZ but definitely not Capital One Arena.
That said, there may not be another game this season where a defense plays Detroit this way.
Where is Ausar’s shooting actually? I really don’t know. He’s shown a willingness to take more shots, which will unlock some things for him and the offense. We’ve seen makes when the look is clean and he can get into his spots.
There are pieces here that paint a picture of improvement as a shooter, but how much? Like, if you thought he was going to be knocking down corner 3s this season, I think you may be disappointed. If his creating a bucket or two for himself via jumpers was your hope, I think you might be happy.
That’s a perfect segue into ball handling.
Thompson’s struggles as a shooter are the front-page story, but his loose handle is probably the most glaring hole in his game. Since he entered the league, Ausar dribbles too high. The ball is screaming to be poked away. Factor in a resistance (or inability) to use his off-hand, and the ball has just constantly been in harm’s way.
That’s why, despite his advanced abilities as a passer, we’ve seen so many dribble-hand-offs with him. He can’t dribble into a move. It limited his athleticism offensively, too, as he was really only explosive on the break or off an offensive rebound.
But I’ve seen enough in three games to buy major improvement as a ball handler.
There was so much to like against Minnesota this week:
What jumps off the screen for me here isn’t the vision and passes; it’s the burst. Thompson looks big and fast here. He’s using his size, speed and athleticism to create offense. It’s not something we saw last year, and it’s an element that would have probably gotten the Pistons over the hump against the Cavaliers in the playoffs.
If you go back and watch some of those games, Ausar was playing like a center. Grab a rebound, look to dunk, dish it back out. He was afraid to dribble. Plain and simple, this was not in his bag six months ago.
Watching him this preseason reminds me of another great defender who lacks punch offensively — Draymond Green. It’s a funny comp because athletically they aren’t even in the same universe, but when I watch Ausar push the ball, turn defense into offense on his own, and make the right pass… it reminds me of the Golden State Warriors’ Death Lineups where Green would grab a board and push.
The unreal spacing and shooting are what most remember about that lineup, but the ability for anyone to grab the ball and push was what made it so damn hard to defend.
If Thompson really hits on both areas this season — meaning he’s taking (and making) enough 3s to keep defenses honest while showing he can handle being a secondary creator in the halfcourt and off turnovers/misses in transition — then we’re looking at one of the 25 best players in the NBA.
That feels like hyperbole, but it’s just not. It’s the pathway to stardom for Ausar.
Again, it’s a lot to ask for him to blossom in both areas. But if he does, the Pistons won’t just have a better version of Thompson. They’ll have a player who changes what their offense is capable of.
