The Detroit Pistons are almost through the preseason, and the clearest thing left on the checklist is offense.
With the Boston Celtics waiting in the season opener less than a week away, Detroit is still sorting through new systems and new combinations. Head coach J.B. Bickerstaff is in the middle of figuring out which lineups can be trusted most, and the early answer is that the Pistons still need more scoring beyond the obvious core.
Cade Cunningham remains the engine, but the burden on him is heavy enough to shape how defenses attack Detroit. The Pistons have built a strong base around Cunningham, Jalen Duren and Ausar Thompson, yet their ceiling in the Eastern Conference depends on adding more variety to the attack. Right now, too much of the creation falls on one player, and that makes the offense easier to read.
That became even more obvious with Tobias Harris gone in free agency. His departure leaves a hole in the scoring rotation, and Detroit needs someone else who can create his own shot, work through mismatches and produce when the clock is winding down. Just as important, the Pistons need that kind of option when Cunningham is on the bench or getting swarmed.
The offseason additions of John Collins, Isaiah Joe and Kevin Huerter should help. Their shooting gives Detroit more spacing, which should open the floor for Cunningham in pick-and-roll action and give Thompson cleaner paths to the rim.
Collins also brings frontcourt scoring and athleticism, while Joe and Huerter add perimeter shooting. But spacing by itself won’t fix everything.
Detroit still needs another source of creation to go with those new weapons.
That puts Thompson in a central spot. At 23-years-old, he has the athleticism, defensive instincts and playmaking potential to become a more dangerous offensive player.
More responsibility could accelerate that growth, but he has to sharpen his ball-handling, decision-making and outside shot to make it matter. If he doesn’t, defenses will keep cheating off him and clogging Cunningham’s lanes.
The Pistons also have to be careful with lineups that include non-shooters like Thompson and Duren together. Duren’s long-term extension, which ended a summer-long standoff, locked in an important piece of the future.
His rebounding, interior presence and finishing make him a major asset. Still, when he shares the floor with limited spacing, the coaching staff has to be precise about how those groups are built.
Detroit’s challenge is finding lineup combinations that hold up defensively without bogging down the offense. The foundation is there with Cunningham, Duren and Thompson in place. What comes next is turning that base into something more balanced and less predictable.
If the Pistons can develop a trustworthy second playmaker, get more efficient offense from Thompson and settle on the right rotations, they’ll be in a better position to take another step. The talent is already there. The growth now has to come on the offensive end.
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Pistons Have 3 Early Preseason Standouts Fans Need To Watch
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Okorie has given the coaching staff a spark, Reed has provided steady production around the paint, and Holland showed why he remains one of the more intriguing young pieces on the roster after leading the club in scoring in the opener. None of that settles anything yet, but it does give the Pistons something worth monitoring as the preseason rolls on and the lineup picture starts to come into focus. [Read more 🡒]
John Collins Gives Pistons Fans One Big Offensive Fit Concern
John Collins has arrived in Detroit with a very different offensive profile than the one Tobias Harris brought to the power forward spot, and that distinction matters for a team still sorting out how its half-court attack will function. Through two preseason games, Collins has looked like an off-ball scorer first, the kind of big who can finish plays, cut into space and stretch a defense, while the Pistons are banking on his size and 3-point range to give them some lineup flexibility.
The fit, though, depends on what comes from the rest of the roster. Collins is not being asked to drive the offense, and the early look suggests Detroit will need more shot creation from its guards and wings if his value is going to show up the way the front office hopes. If the ball handlers can consistently put defenses in rotation, Collins can help open the floor and even slide into small-ball center looks, but the margin for error shrinks if the team expects him to do much more than finish the possession. [Read more 🡒]