The Detroit Pistons lost their first game of the Summer League, an ugly affair against the Timberwolves that featured 38 combined turnovers, 21 of them by Detroit.
Summer League is what it is, which is a bunch of young, fringe NBA players trying to show they belong, often leading to sloppy play and plenty of miscues.
The Pistons did play solid defense, especially early on, with the Summer League team mimicking the ethos of the real thing, a team that hangs its hat on defense, struggles on offense at times and turns the ball over too much.
Ron Holland II and Bobi Klintman combined for 13 turnovers and 12 fouls, so while they might have been getting after it defensively, they were plenty sloppy themselves, and their aggression came at the cost of fouling out.
Again. It’s Summer League. These games aren’t always easy to watch.
Klintman’s lack of offensive progress has been disappointing, as he has been weak with the ball and hasn’t hit shots so far in Summer League, possibly focusing on his defense to a fault.
The eye test isn’t great for him though, as he looks a step slow and like he hasn’t put on much (if any) muscle since last season.
Both he and rookie Chaz Lanier (the two second-round picks with guaranteed contracts) [have not looked like answers](https://pistonpowered.com/bigger-roles-and-more-tprove-detroit-pistons-summer-league) to any of the Pistons’ questions so far.
But they have hopefully at least found one player they can count on in a pinch this season.
The Detroit Pistons found their emergency point guard
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Daniss Jenkins had his first off game of the Summer League but still controlled the offense and was one of the only guys in the starting five who took care of the ball, with seven assists to just two turnovers.
Jenkins is not going to start the season in the rotation but will [definitely see minutes](https://pistonpowered.com/detroit-pistons-patience-could-yield-cheap-point-guard-option) if there is an injury or someone needs a night off. We’ve yet to see the Pistons use a two-way player much, but Jenkins might be the first, as he has at least shown he can be a pest defensively, knock down shots and take care of the ball.
Unless the Pistons sign someone else, Cade Cunningham is currently the only real point guard on the roster, so it’s good for the Pistons to have someone they can trust coming out of the G-League.
Detroit still needs depth in other areas, particularly power forward, where it doesn’t look like Klintman is ready for rotation minutes, but they have hopefully found their “break in case of emergency” point guard.