The Detroit Pistons didn’t make the kind of summer splash that gets people talking, and now the familiar predictions are back: maybe Detroit didn’t really improve, maybe it slipped, maybe a bunch of teams in the East are ready to pass it.
Bleacher Report went all the way to the top of its list of five teams that got worse this offseason and put the Pistons there, while also laying out 8-11 teams it believes could finish ahead of Detroit next season. That’s a bold call for a team that just finished with 60 wins and the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference.
The list of teams B/R thinks could end up in front of Detroit includes the Knicks, 76ers, Pacers, Cavaliers, Raptors, Heat, Celtics and Hawks. It also named the Magic, Hornets and Wizards as possible teams to jump the Pistons.
That kind of talk should sound familiar in Detroit.
It was not long ago that the same sort of chatter surrounded the Pistons before last season, with plenty of preseason forecasts pegging them to take a step back. Instead, they rolled through the East in the regular season and made the doubters look premature.
There’s no question the conference could be tougher this time around, and there are teams with a real shot to move ahead of Detroit. But that is not the same thing as saying it will happen. The Pistons also enter the season with more continuity than anyone in the East outside the Knicks.
And the standard in Detroit has changed. Regular-season wins are no longer the whole story. If the Pistons take a small step back in the standings, that’s not automatically a problem if it helps them get where they actually want to go: the playoffs.
The Knicks and Cavaliers deserve to be treated as better right now. New York is the defending champion, and Cleveland beat Detroit in the playoffs last season.
Beyond that, though, the case gets a lot murkier.
The 76ers are the offseason’s headline grabbers, but that still has to translate to the floor before they can be penciled in ahead of Detroit. There are obvious concerns around Embiid and LeBron when it comes to injury and age, and Philadelphia is also trying to make four of the highest-usage players in the league fit together. Defense is another major question.
The same “let’s wait and see” label applies to Indiana, Toronto, Miami, Atlanta and Boston, all of whom are trying to fold major new pieces into their rotations. There are a lot of moving parts: Is Haliburton back to full health?
How will Zubac fit in? Did Miami keep enough of its team in the Giannis trade to still be good?
Is Toronto better or worse with Kawhi? How did his offseason affect things?
Can Paul George stay healthy for Boston? Is Atlanta for real and do they have enough shooting?
On paper, you can make the argument that all of those teams have more upside than Detroit. But they also come with more uncertainty, and none of them has the best player in the conference, Cade Cunningham.
That’s the part that should keep the Pistons confident, even with the noise starting up again.
In Other News...
Jalen Duren's Pistons Standoff Just Became Impossible To Ignore
Mid-September is an uncomfortable place for a negotiation to be sitting, especially when it involves a 22-year-old who made both the All-Star and All-NBA teams last season. Jalen Duren remains without a new deal from Detroit, and the Pistons have been firm enough to believe they have already put forward a fair offer based on what they see as his current market value.
The hold-up has become notable because Duren is not just any restricted free agent lingering on the board. He is the most decorated player to still be unsigned this late, and the sides do not appear to be operating from the same place on what his resume should be worth. Detroit has plenty of reason to admire the ceiling, but enough questions around his playoff performance and the context of those honors to keep this from moving like a straightforward payday. [Read more 🡒]
Pistons May Need To Settle One Ausar Thompson Question Early
The Pistons are looking at Ausar Thompsons next contract with a little more urgency than usual, and for good reason. Detroit would like to get an early extension done if it can, both to reward one of its core young pieces and to avoid letting the situation drift into the kind of restricted free agency mess that can hang over a roster for months.
Thompson still has the kind of appeal that could draw attention around the league, especially with several teams expected to have cap space next summer. But that market can shrink fast, and once it does, the player loses a lot of leverage. For Detroit, the question is whether it makes sense to move now and settle the framework early, or risk letting the process stretch into a tougher negotiation later. [Read more 🡒]
Pistons Face An Uncomfortable Truth About Their Offseason
The Pistons spent the summer trying to steady a roster that still feels like it is looking for its best version. Tobias Harris is gone in free agency, and Detroit has turned to John Collins and Isaiah Joe to help fill the opening, but both arrive with questions of their own after coming into more prominent roles than they have had to handle before. For a team trying to climb in a crowded Eastern Conference, the margin for error in those kinds of bets is thin.
Jalen Duren has also become part of the discussion in a way Detroit probably did not want after his playoff struggles. The All-Stars contract situation has turned complicated, and the on-court issues that showed up in April made the conversation even trickier for the front office as it weighs how to move forward with one of its most important young pieces. In a summer that has already looked underwhelming beside what some rivals have done, the Pistons are left facing a question they cannot really dodge: whether this offseason actually made them better in the places that matter most. [Read more 🡒]