Killian Hayes May Officially Be Detroit's Most Hated Athlete
The Detroit Pistons had a good thing going there for about three games. They blew a huge lead against the Trailblazers the other night and last night got their doors blown off by a Hornets team that they beat a week ago. This is probably what this team is going to be: flashes of potential followed by long stretches of offensive and defensive ineptitude. That could be said about most Pistons teams since 2008. There are some legitimate excuses as to why this team isn't performing. They are young, but the one guy that people can't seem to stand right now for good reason is Killian Hayes.
I'm not saying Detroit sports are in a great place right now, but there are not a whole lot of athletes that are loathed. Most people are either indifferent or intrigued by most of the key players on the four major teams in Detroit. Then there's Killian Hayes. Every post I read about the Detroit Pistons involves somebody saying that the Pistons need to cut Killian Hayes. I get it; he's in year four, and he's not much of a contributor, but I think the frustration here comes from the fact that Killian Hayes represents everything that's been wrong with the Detroit Pistons over the last 15 years.
Hayes was a high draft pick who failed to develop into a legitimate star, and it set the Pistons back. I don't know if there's an organization in sports that has done a worse job of drafting players than the Pistons have over the last 15 years. Even the fucking Cleveland Browns hit on a few guys eventually. Except probably Cade Cunningham (and we'll see about Jaden Ivey), the Pistons have drafted fucking ice cream truck drivers in the first round over the last decade and a half. You almost have to try to be that bad.
As a baseball guy, I'd still personally rather have 100 Killian Hayes than one Javier Báez. To me, he's number one with a bullet in regards to my most hated Detroit athletes, but not everyone is psychotic enough to watch every single Detroit Tigers game. The fact that the Pistons are this early in their campaign and Killian Hayes is already getting under people's skin shows how terrible it is. 
Will the Pistons cut Killian Hayes? No. Detroit is a bad team, and so they're going to stick with a bad player. I have a lot of experience with this as a Tigers fan. My hope is that Killian Hayes will end up being the last vestige of what was a terrible era of Detroit Pistons basketball. Still, because this era has been going on for four presidents now, part of me feels like we're going to get more Killian Hayes types in the future.