Jerry Lai – USA TODAY Sports
The Detroit Pistons announced on Monday that they have signed Peyton Siva. That’s not a bad move considering Siva’s background with the Louisville Cardinals, who used the talented guard to help them win the national championship last spring. The question that quickly pops up is: where will they put him?
Siva is an excellent playmaker, and the Pistons could use him at times. He averaged 10 points, 2.4 rebounds and 5.7 assists per game during his senior season at Louisville. Cardinals fans will have him in their hearts forever with his efforts in the national title game with 18 points and five assists. He had 677 assists in his college career, which is good enough second on the school’s all-time list.
He wasn’t a bad pickup by the Pistons as a second-round choice in the draft. They liked what they saw, and he could eventually be an excellent NBA guard. He showed in the Summer League how well he can protect the basketball by making few turnovers. His stock grew significantly and his summer performance obviously motivated the Pistons to give Siva a contract.
But the Pistons have too many guards with Siva, Chauncey Billups, Will Bynum, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Brandon Jennings, Kyle Singler and Rodney Stuckey, and four of them play the point. If they make another deal or two to shrink the number of guards, then Siva is likely to see some court time. For now, it’s tough to see when and where they’ll be able to use him.
He had a good summer, but Siva is going to have to have an impressive preseason to earn some playing time.
