Ausar Thompson is living up to his defensive promise and proving Detroit Pistons right

Even by NBA standards, Ausar Thompson’s past four games were a gauntlet of tough assignments.

Jan. 28th’s home upset over the Oklahoma City Thunder brought MVP candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Wednesday featured a trip to a Cleveland Cavaliers team led by Donovan Mitchell. Kawhi Leonard and Paul George visited Detroit on Friday, and recently named All Star Paolo Banchero and Michigan alumnus Franz Wagner arrived Sunday with the Orlando Magic.

Thompson, the Detroit Pistons' 21-year-old rookie, won a fair share of the battles. He mirrored Mitchell and Gilgeous-Alexander to prevent them from getting downhill. Wagner and Banchero each had a jump shot rejected by Thompson, despite standing four inches taller. And Leonard … well, the Clippers superstar scored 33 points and only missed five of 17 shots the entire night.

After Sunday’s loss to Orlando, Thompson ranked the past week as having the second-hardest defensive assignments of his career so far.

“My first game was (Devin Booker) and (Kevin Durant) during preseason,” Thompson said. “This was a tough week with tough guys.”

Thompson can’t win them all. But midway through his rookie season, he’s living up to the lofty expectations the front office placed on him after drafting him fifth overall. The Pistons were confident Thompson would immediately be able to handle the toughest defensive assignments. Thus far, he’s proving them right.

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Monty Williams, in his 17th season of coaching, has never been around a rookie that has earned this level of trust on the defensive end. The only comparison he could think of is when he began coaching Mikal Bridges in 2019, when the standout defender was in his second season.

“We put (Bridges) in every scenario possible,” Williams said Tuesday after practice in Detroit. “I told (Thompson) at the beginning of the year, and even in the summertime when we were in (Los Angeles), I said 'you’ve gotta create a book, a journal of all these guys. Understand their tendencies, learn how to guard pretty much the whole league.'

“The concept of shutting a guy down now has been somewhat convoluted because of the screening,” Williams continued. “If you’re guarding a guy, they bring up a guy to screen you off of him and then you gotta play. But when he does have a chance to guard some of these top-flight guys, role players, he’s shown the ability to stay in front of the ball. I think he’s done a really good job, lately, of not reaching when he’s got the guy in a tough spot. And I just think he’s gonna get better.”

Opposing teams have scored 6.5 fewer points per 100 possessions when Thompson is on the floor rather than off, according to Cleaning the Glass. That places the 6-foot-6 forward in the 91st percentile across the league — elite territory.

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Thompson is skilled at navigating screens and keeping the ball in front of him. He’s averaging a block and nearly a full steal in just 23.6 minutes per game. His block percentage (2%, 94th percentile) and steal percentage (1.7%, 86th percentile) rank are excellent. He’s also top five among forwards in offensive and defensive rebound percentage.

After games, Thompson is almost always sitting at his locker watching film of the game he just played. Defense goes beyond physical ability — it’s knowing what your opponent is going to do and beating them to it.

Thompson is studious, and his athleticism has helped him make defensive plays that many players can’t. Williams said he's one of the rare players who can guard the dribble, stop in an instant, rise up and block the shot, which differentiates him from Bridges, whom Williams categorized as a late contest shot obstructer.

"Ausar’s a bit more powerful in the way that he defends," Williams said.

“I’ve never seen a guy block this many jump shots. Someone tried to shoot one on him the other day and he wasn’t even in the frame, and he came and got it."

Thompson has a long way to go in learning the league, but his mindset has helped set him up for success now and moving forward.

“I think all great defenders have that appropriate fear and respect for the offensive guy that they have to guard," Williams said. "And it allows for them to be somewhat humble about the task. I think he has that. He understands a lot of these guys are ahead of him offensively. If he doesn’t study, he’s going to get himself in a tough spot. The young man, he’s just stellar in the way that he approaches every day. But in particular, the defensive end of the floor.”

It's crucial to have versatile defenders on the wing in this day and age of bountiful long, athletic, skilled offensive guards and forwards. Thompson gives the Pistons' defense its first building block in competing against those apex scorers.

Earl Cureton’s Celebration of Life to take place Saturday

Arrangements have been set for Detroit basketball legend and former Pistons community ambassador Earl Cureton, who passed away suddenly Sunday morning at 66.

His Celebration of Life ceremony will take place at St. Cecilia’s Church (10400 Stoepel in Detroit) on Saturday at 1 p.m.

In lieu of flowers, donations toward the renovation of St. Cecilia’s gym can be made at www.ceciliaville.org.

Contact Omari Sankofa II at osankofa@freepress.com. Follow him @omarisankofa.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Pistons' Ausar Thompson living up to defensive promise