Isaiah Stewart really wanted to make his elementary school’s basketball team. He doesn’t remember exactly how old he was — he guesses he was about nine or 10 — but at the time, tryouts were ongoing and he was determined to not miss them.
The problem: Stewart’s dad, Dela, was not able to get him to school that morning. Stewart has spoken at length in the past about the role his father has played in his life, instilling values of hard work, determination, and pride in him from the time he was young. One way he did this was to lead by example, working long days in construction to provide for his family.
On that one particular day, Dela heading into work early in the morning meant Isaiah had no way to get to tryouts on the other side of Rochester … well, there was one.
“I convinced my brother to wake up with me and we walked to school,” Stewart tells Dime. “So, we lived on the west side, my school was on the east side, so we got up early, walked to school. I think that just shows work ethic and how bad I wanted it at a young age.”
That work ethic and desire to do whatever he needs — even if it’s not exactly going down the path of least resistance — has helped Stewart get to the NBA, and is on display whenever he suits up for the Detroit Pistons. Now in the midst of his second year in the league, Stewart is part of a young core of players who the Pistons hope will lead them back to prominence.
This sort of rebuilding job is not easy. Since making the Eastern Conference Finals in 2008, the Pistons have made the postseason three times. They were swept in the first round in each appearance. They’ve finished above-.500 once in that time. All of this has happened for a franchise that has a rich history of winning in a specific way — from the Bad Boys of the 1980s to the championship-winning squad in the mid-00s, Detroit basketball has always been about putting on a hardhat and going to work.
It’s not difficult to see how a guy like Stewart is a cultural fit for this sort of team. A five-star prospect out of La Lumiere School in Indiana and a first-round pick out of Washington, Stewart came into the NBA with big time credentials. Despite this, Stewart says he saw plenty of skepticism about how his game would translate.
As a 6’8 center who didn’t come into the league with a reputation for being a freakish athlete or a lethal jump shooter, Stewart saw people writing him off before he ever stepped on the floor. Add in the fact that the COVID-19 pandemic meant rookies didn’t get Summer League or a proper preseason to ease their way into the Association and Stewart had to learn everything on the fly.
“The way I play and everything, and being a strong player going against a lot of grown men at 19, there’s a lot of welcome to the NBA moments,” he says with a laugh.
Still, Stewart was willing to whatever was necessary to contribute as a young player. He knows that there is always going to be a place in the league for a guy like him, someone who is willing to do the dirty work and never take a possession off. Mistakes on defense, he knew, were easier to swallow (both for himself and the team’s coaching staff) if they were the result of playing hard. It helped Stewart be comfortable switching onto guards on the perimeter, one of those aforementioned bits of skepticism he faced coming into the league. “I played in the 2-3 [zone] in college, and they didn’t think I was able to guard guards,” he says. “I proved I can do that from the day I stepped foot in the NBA.”
While he concedes he’s struggled to hit threes this year (he’s converting them at a 16 percent clip), Stewart took pride in the fact that his jumper started falling in the second half of his rookie campaign — he knocked down 20 percent of his threes before the All-Star break as a rookie and 34.5 percent of them after. He’s also confident that all of this will come, and that even if he hits bumps in the road, they’re all parts of a process.
“I just feel like you reap what you sow,” Stewart says. “If you’re working hard, and you’re putting in the work, you’re gonna get good things out of it. Might not be now, but when it does for me, you can say, ‘I know I put the work in for it.’
“The funnest thing to do,” he continues, “is prove doubters wrong and make doubters believers.”
This goes for more than just the man affectionately known as Beef Stew. The Pistons are banking on a ton of younger guys to usher in a new era of excellence. Trade deadline acquisition Marvin Bagley is the latest member of their youth movement, and Stewart thinks they’ll fit well together as they continue to gel. Reigning No. 1 overall pick Cade Cunningham is one of the best rookies in the league, while Saddiq Bey and Stewart were first and second-team All-Rookie selections, respectively, last season. Of the team’s 14 players who have appeared in at least 20 games this year, nine of them are 25 or younger.
It hasn’t yet translated to wins — Detroit is 14-45 this year, the second-worst record in the NBA. There are flashes of promise across the roster, but the goal is to build something sustainable so playoff berths are the norm, not the exception. And with guys like Stewart in tow, the Pistons are building up a roster that is willing to stay focused on their long-term goals and put in whatever work is required to get to that point.
“We feel like it’s worth it,” Stewart says. “And know the wins might not be showing now, but we know it’s gonna show later. We also know it’s not an easy process. It ain’t easy, but it’s going to happen with working hard, and putting trust in your work. And at the end of it, we feel like we gonna get good out of it.”