At first blush, Dwane Casey wasn’t so sure about Isaiah Livers. Several months later, Casey considers the 23-year-old Michigan product a piece of the Pistons’ future.
An infectious sense of energy will have that effect. So will a smooth stroke from three, where Livers shot a team-high 42.2 percent in his brief rookie season.
”Really love him, love his spirit. He brings it every day,” Casey said this week on 97.1 The Ticket. “You first meet him and you think, ‘Oh, this kid is just a lot of fluff,’ but he’s real. He brings that spirit to the court each and every night. His basketball IQ is off the charts. Really high on him, he’s a keeper for our program. He is one of those guys who's going to develop into a sniper for us from the outside.”
The Pistons could use it. They just finished 29th in three-point shooting (32.6 percent) in a league where the three reigns supreme. Casey said adding more shooters is one of Detroit’s top priorities this offseason. The club already has one in Livers, who showed up in late February after a long road back from foot surgery and nailed one of the first threes he took in a one-point Pistons win.
He drained at least three three-pointers in five of his 18 games, which doesn’t sound like much until you consider Killian Hayes and Hamidou Diallo made that many threes twice in 124 games combined. Livers is also a willing, versatile defender at 6’7, 230 lbs with the potential to expand his game on offense.
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“He’s just gotta understand, learn and get experience in the NBA game to be able to contribute at a high level and contribute to winning, but he has all the tools,” said Casey.
Livers was viewed as a potential first-round pick for most of his junior season at Michigan, but the Pistons got him in the second after he suffered a stress fracture in his foot. At the time, GM Troy Weaver praised him for being “competitive, tough and selfless.” He noted Livers’ size, versatility and “feel for the game.” And, of course, Weaver liked that he could shoot.
The Pistons signed Livers to a three-year deal in August, four months removed from surgery, not knowing when he might return to the court. It would be another six months before he joined the team for good. Turns out he was worth the wait.
“Our front office and scouts, Troy, they had a lot of faith in him to bring him into our program even when he wasn’t ready and available to play all last summer and throughout most of this year until lately,” said Casey. “He’s an excellent, excellent pickup for our organization.”