Detroit Pistons rookie Marcus Sasser finishing season strong after conversation with coach
DALLAS — Marcus Sasser is a score-first guard. The Detroit Pistons have needed much more from him this season, forcing the four-year college senior to embrace new styles of play.
The rookie has been in the spotlight though their final stretch. He has now started nine consecutive games after coming off of the bench for his first 57, thanks to injuries to Cade Cunningham and Jaden Ivey. After a hot start to the season, his expanded role came with a bad slump.
In his 19 games leading up to Thursday’s home finale against the Chicago Bulls, Sasser shot just 33.8% overall and 31.3% from 3. The added responsibility led Sasser to take on the role of a more traditional point guard, and he appeared to be thinking more than playing. His trusty jumper wasn’t falling, he wasn't able to make up for the poor shooting.
Even so, Monty Williams stuck with him through his struggles. It eventually led to a conversation between the two before last week’s road loss in Brooklyn.
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Williams’ message was straightforward — justplay your game.
“You can’t play the kind of basketball that he was playing,” Williams said after Friday’s road win in Dallas. “He was caught in-between trying to be Chris Paul and Sass, and I’m like, I’ve coached Chris, he’s not here so you need to be Sass. Just play your game. I’m happy for him and I’m happy he got to do that in front of his family.”
What he did was cap perhaps the best two-game stretch of his career on Friday. One day after scoring 20 points on 8-for-15 shooting against the Bulls, the Dallas native led the Pistons with 24 points in their 107-89 victory over the Mavericks, bringing their win total to 14 with just one game remaining on the schedule.
Sasser played his game with more than 20 family members in attendance, and prioritized scoring. He appears to be getting back on track as his first NBA season draws to a close.
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“It gives you just a big confidence boost,” Sasser said after the win. “Kinda feel like I was struggling during that time, and I was in my head a lot going through it. He just pulled me to the side and told me he’s got my back, even when I’m struggling like that, because he could’ve easily went away from me and stuff like that. He’s given me a lot of confidence.”
Sasser, who starred at Houston for four seasons before the Pistons selected him 25th overall in June, initially appeared to enjoy a quick transition to the NBA. He shot 46.7% and 41.6% from 3, putting together a solid offensive resume before playing his 50th game.
Against the Milwaukee Bucks on Nov. 8, he scored 26 points on 11-for-17 shooting. In back-to-back road wins over the Sacramento Kings and Portland Trail Blazers in February, he had 18 points before finishing with a 17-point, 11-assist double-double in Portland. Sasser thrived in a bench role, picking his spots as a secondary option next to Cunningham or Jaden Ivey.
As a starter, he is setting the table for the entire offense. His tendency to dribble and find better shots for himself has, at times, clashed with Detroit’s need for him to keep the ball moving. As of late, he’s prioritized his own offense more. He has settled into a rhythm, and he says it’s aided him as a playmaker as well.
“I’ll say altogether I feel like I’m a scorer first,” Sasser said. “Just being aggressive and trying to get to the rim, making plays for myself. I feel like that will open up for me to make plays for my teammates and just getting the other defenders to help and making the easy reads. Just coming in with that aggressive mindset instead of that passive, laid-back mindset.
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“It’s real different from coming off the bench,” he continued. “Just knowing your minutes, knowing when you’re going to get in. I had to get used to that. I kinda like it, just having to bring the ball up every time. It’s a lot of reps for me to get comfortable at that position and really just to make plays and run the team. Right now, I’m just happy that I’m getting these reps.”
Cunningham’s continued absence — Friday was his sixth-straight missed game with left knee tendinopathy — has given Sasser the opportunity to get needed reps at point guard. At 6-foot-1, he won’t always have the luxury of simply being a shot-maker. There’s a balance to be found between finding his own shot and keeping his teammates involved, and he’s gotten closer to finding that balance despite some ugly turnovers.
As a whole, Sasser has had a bigger role this season than anyone could’ve anticipated. Detroit’s depth chart was stacked at the beginning — Sasser was behind Cunningham, Ivey, Killian Hayes and Monte Morris. But Morris missed most of his time in Detroit due to injury, and Williams swapped out the veteran with a rookie.
Sasser can certainly score. It was one of his biggest strengths at Houston, where he thrived thanks to his ability to hit 3s off the catch and dribble, and knock down floaters. He’s capable of heating up and swinging games by himself. On Friday, he scored 22 of his 24 points in the second half — including a stretch in the third quarter where he tallied 13 straight Pistons points by himself.
His extra reps this season, ideally, will continue to help him adapt to the demands of being a point guard in the NBA.
“I think the whole year has sped up his development,” Williams said. “He came into the year thinking he may spend half the season in the G League. And then we just lost Monte for a long time, and had injury after injury, and he was there. So I think this year probably caught him off guard. I think it’s been great for him, I know it’s going to pay off for him as we go forward.”
Contact Omari Sankofa II at osankofa@freepress.com. Follow him @omarisankofa.
Next up: Spurs
Matchup: Pistons (13-68) at San Antonio (21-60), season finale.
Tipoff: 3:30 p.m. Sunday: Alamodome, San Antonio, Texas.
TV/radio: Bally Sports Detroit Extra, WJBK-TV (Ch. 20 in Detroit); WWJ-AM (950).
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Pistons' Marcus Sasser playing his best ball after pep talk
