7. Detroit Pistons
Key additions: Zaza Pachulia (FA), Glenn Robinson III (FA)
Key losses: Anthony Tolliver (FA)
I WILL READILY ADMIT that I have no idea what to make of this year’s Detroit Pistons. Dwane Casey will take over the coaching reigns – I’ve already cut him up enough for one piece. He’s a really good regular season coach that gets the most out of his guys. Toronto played their butts off for him. Casey will now inherit the mess that Stan Van Gundy created and things could go a million different ways.
One thing that Casey has going for him is an ultra talented front-court. Blake Griffin and Andre Drummond are as talented as any starting PF/C combo in the East and nicely complement each other’s skill sets. Casey typically lets his best player’s do most of the heavy lifting on offense and Griffin should be a direct beneficiary. A talented passer, he may even bring the ball up at times this year. Blake has serious point guard skills and the potential for endless ally-oops between him and Drummond gives me goosebumps.
PistonPowered
Adding intrigue, check out the brass Drummond joined last year on his per game points, rebounds, assists, and blocks totals. It’s great to see him excelling.
Another bonus for Detroit will be getting a fully healthy Reggie Jackson back. They were 19-14 until the starting point guard went down with an ankle injury just after Christmas and it changed everything. He missed the next 37 games and the team went 12-25 without him, falling out of the playoff race. Jackson is fearless driving to the basket and serves as the team’s only other real playmaker outside of Griffin. The last time he was healthy for a full season, the Pistons went 44-38 and played a competitive (albeit four game) series against the eventual champs.
But what really hurts the Pistons is their lack of depth and 3-point shooting. Reggie Bullock, Luke Kennard, and Glenn Robinson are the only good long distance shooters in the rotation and at the moment they might not start for Duke. And while the Langston Galloway–Ish Smith duo is okay off the bench, they don’t bring any championship pedigree or veteran leadership. The front office must have saw enough of those qualities in Zaza Pachulia to give him a contract.
Detroit had no cap room this summer and the roster is filled with middling talent from a former regime that was too short-sighted on the present to think about the future. The Jackson and Tobias Harris trades were smart, but Van Gundy drafted horrendously and many of the moves he made felt desperate, capped by the Griffin trade last January. Long one of the NBA’s best power forwards, I’d like to formally apologize to Pistons fans – Blake hasn’t played a start-to-finish healthy season since ’14, has had multiple knee surgeries along the way, can’t shoot threes, is a complete defensive liability, and I’m unsure if he still gives a crap about basketball.
Did I mention he’s owed over $140 million the next four years? He’ll also be 30 in March, making the guy he was traded for three years younger, 95% as good, and $125million cheaper (the main reason the Pistons won’t have any cap room until July 2020). I just talked myself out of my earlier praise for Casey’s front-court and a large group of Pistons fans just jumped off the Ambassador bridge.
Pistons projected record: 42-40
Pistons chances of making the playoffs: 55%
Pistons chances of winning the East: 1%