The legacy of the ‘80s Bad Boys has a lasting impact not only on the Detroit Pistons but on the entire NBA as well. Michael Jordan would not be Michael Jordan if not for those Pistons players trying to tear his limb off every time he waltzed into the shaded area. When you speak of Detroit basketball, you are effectively summoning the specter of the back-breaking pain Dennis Rodman, Bill Laimbeer, and others used to inflict on opposing players. Pistons rookie Luka Garza is the furthest individual away from that kind of basketball nastiness, but in his own way, the former Iowa Hawkeyes can be a baaad man on the court. 

Garza does not intentionally let his elbows fly directly into the ribs and faces of defenders to carve out space when posting up. He doesn’t set bone-crushing screens. He’s not the type who’ll wallop an offensive player midair. Instead, he will hurt your team with his offense, which he has already started to do with the Pistons in the NBA, albeit at just the Summer League level. 

Whether it will be utilized by the Pistons or not, Garza’s skill at the post is an asset. Barely any team is making the post a primary scoring option in the NBA today, but Garza can offer a changeup for the Pistons’ offense that only had a 4.8% post-up frequency in the 2020-21 NBA season. At the same time, Garza also knows that the NBA is not going to adapt to him. It’s him who will have to adjust and tailor-fit his game to survive in the pros, as he made clear when he spoke to reporters recently.

Via Omari Sankofa II of The Detroit Free Press:

“I knew translating to the NBA, there’s not as much posting up,” he said. “I was posting up 47% of the time in college. So I knew that’s not realistic in terms of the NBA game. I thought the slimmer me would be a better version. I knew I had a lot of confidence in the way I shoot the ball and how I can stretch the floor. I think that’s the reason I did it. Working with a dietician and a chef, wearing a waist trainer, doing all types of stuff. I ended up losing 27 pounds. I feel really good.

Garza has prepared for his arrival in the next level long before the Pistons took him. In his first year with the Iowa Hawkeyes, he took just 1.4 3-point shots per game. In his last season in college, he made 1.4 triples on 3.2 3-point attempts per contest. During the 2021 NBA Summer League in Las Vegas, Garza had people reacting over the top, some calling him the next Dirk Nowitzki when he showed up with a smooth outside game. Across five games in Vegas, Garza averaged 21.2 points on 52.0 FG% and 40.0 3 FG%.

There’s no assurance that Luka Garza will crack the regular NBA roster of the Pistons for good. He’s only signed a two-way deal with the Pistons, which means he can only play up to 50 games max in the NBA. But all Garza needs right now is a chance to prove he’s more than just a 6-11 version of Jimmer Fredette or the basketball equivalent of a Johnny Manziel and Tim Tebow and that he’s got the game to become just as bad in the NBA just as he was in college.