Looking back at what the Detroit Pistons did right and wrong during the 2018 NBA offseason, including the draft and free agency
After remaining stagnant for the past two seasons, the Detroit Pistons thought it was time to move on from Stan Van Gundy. In his place, the team hired Dwane Casey (who was fired by the Toronto Raptors) as their new lead voice.
For the most part, most of their big moves were made in-season this past year. They added Blake Griffin just before the NBA Trade Deadline, and hope that the return of Reggie Jackson will help smooth the integration this season.
Andre Drummond had an improved season as well, but it clearly wasn’t enough to get Detroit into the postseason.
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Perhaps a new voice is just what this team needed, and even though they didn’t have a ton of wiggle room this summer let’s take a look at their offseason summary.
After firing Van Gundy, it’s clear that this team wants to move in a different direction. Problem is, their tied up in salary cap hell and can’t really pivot without unloading Drummond, Jackson or Griffin – or some combination of the two.
Short of that happening, this team really had no room to improve when it came to their overall roster. The Pistons did sign Jose Calderon and Glen Robinson III, as well as Zaza Pachulia. As you can see, none of those moves are exactly headline-grabbing, but it’s what they could do.
Improving their depth wouldn’t hurt, especially with all the injuries that they had to fight through this past season.
The big question this upcoming season will revolve around their “Big 3”. Will a trio of Reggie Jackson, Blake Griffin and Andre Drummond work over the course of a season? We’re about to find out real quick, under Casey.