The Detroit Pistons spent last season turning low expectations into a loud answer. They were picked to make only modest progress after a surprise 44-win year, then went out and added 16 more wins to that total, blowing past every preseason prediction.
Now the script is being run back again.
All summer, the chatter around the East has centered on other teams, while the Pistons have been treated like an afterthought. The same doubts are back too: that Detroit still hasn’t done enough, that it needs a second star, that last season was a fluke, and that the rest of the conference has moved on while the Pistons have not.
Cade Cunningham says that kind of talk only sharpens the edge.
In a recent interview with R.org, Cunningham was asked how the team is handling being overlooked after the East’s big offseason moves. His response was direct: “I think we got a lot of noise to make,” he said. “And especially people doubting us, like I said, it just adds more fuel to everything.”
Detroit did not make the kind of headline-grabbing move plenty of people expected. Instead, the front office made smaller upgrades around the margins. That leaves Cunningham as the engine again, the player who has had to carry the load every year he’s been in the league because the Pistons have still not landed him a co-star.
That reality puts even more pressure on Cunningham to deliver at an MVP level, and he sounds ready for it. Still, the bigger issue for Detroit is what comes next. At some point, the Pistons are going to need another player who can take over stretches of games, because relying on Cunningham alone can only go so far.
There is some flexibility left. Detroit appears positioned to make a move at the deadline, but after that the path gets harder as the payroll climbs.
The postseason is where this team will be judged now anyway. Last season, the Pistons won 60 games but then ran into trouble in the playoffs, nearly falling in the first round before flaming out in the second. Trajan Langdon’s response to that showed up in the roster tweaks, with the need for more 3-point shooting becoming clear after Cleveland shredded Detroit’s bench.
Next season may not bring another 60-win finish, especially with the East improving. But that number is no longer the point.
For the Pistons, it’s about what happens when the games get tighter and the spotlight gets hotter. In that sense, the bar is simple: Eastern Conference Finals or bust.
And if Detroit has proven anything, it’s that being ignored can work as motivation. The Pistons have made a habit of using disrespect as fuel, and this summer has given them plenty of it. There’s only one way back into the conversation.
In Other News...
Pistons Linked To Young Bucks Guard They May Struggle To Land
The Pistons search for another source of secondary scoring and playmaking has naturally led them toward the trade market, and Milwaukee guard Ryan Rollins has surfaced as an intriguing name. After a breakout season, Rollins looks like the kind of young backcourt piece that fits Detroits timeline, giving the front office a reason to at least monitor whether a deal could be possible if the Bucks ever become open to moving him.
The problem is that Milwaukee has little obvious incentive to part with a player who is just starting to show real value, which makes any pursuit difficult before it even gets off the ground. Some speculation has already centered on what it might take to pry him loose, and the broader question for the Pistons is whether the price would be worth it when the asking point could be steep enough to test how aggressive they want to be. [Read more 🡒]
Pistons May Need An Unlikely Answer To Their Tobias Harris Problem
Replacing Tobias Harris was always going to be about more than swapping one frontcourt name for another. John Collins brings a different skill set to Detroit, but he does not naturally fill the same role Harris did as a self-creator, which leaves the Pistons needing help elsewhere if they want the offense to keep its balance when the minutes get a little more improvised.
That is where Daniss Jenkins enters the conversation, and in a way the team probably did not anticipate when the offseason began. He is expected to take on a larger role with Cade Cunningham off the floor, and Detroit will need him to turn last seasons promising penetration into more reliable scoring and creation. Jenkins showed he can get into the lane, but the next step is making those drives count in the paint, which could end up being a bigger part of solving this roster puzzle than anyone thought. [Read more 🡒]
Jalen Duren Idea Would Force Pistons To Rethink Their Identity
The Pistons have spent recent seasons trying to build around a young core, and Jalen Duren has been part of that foundation in the middle. So when The Game Theory Podcast floated a speculative sign-and-trade framework, it naturally landed as more than just offseason chatter. The idea centered on Detroit shifting from its current interior-first look toward a different kind of lineup balance, one that could better fit the evolving shape of the roster.
At the heart of the concept is the kind of player Detroit has been linked to in theory for a while, a stretch five who can open the floor, plus another creator who can ease some pressure on the ball-handlers. Even so, the discussion also underscored how dramatic a move like this would be for the Pistons, because it would ask them to rethink both their identity and the role Duren has played in it. For now, it reads as a thought exercise more than a realistic transaction, but it is the sort of idea that tends to linger because it touches on so many of Detroits biggest questions. [Read more 🡒]