Road to Relevance: Detroit Pistons
The Pistons huddled up before their April 19 matchup with the Cavaliers. (Chris Schwegler NBAE/Getty)
With the NBA Playoffs in full swing, 16 teams from across the association are vying to earn their spot in the semifinal round of the most talent-rich basketball tournament in the world. All the while, players and coaches from the 14 organizations that didn’t make the cut are left watching from home, wondering what they could have done differently in order to secure a playoff berth and a chance to compete for the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy.
What problems arose throughout the season that kept them from winning? Where did these issues come from, and how can the team look to right the ship this offseason and into their next campaign? Finding the answers to these questions is the top priority of all those who lost their way into an early vacation. Let’s start looking for those answers with none other than the team that finished with the NBA’s worst record of the 2020-21 season: the Detroit Pistons.
With just two players above the age of 30 on the roster at the season’s conclusion, the Pistons are one of many NBA teams currently in the midst of a rebuilding process. Led by two-way savant Jerami Grant, the Pistons managed just 20 wins in the NBA’s truncated 72-game season.
Entering the season with the recently revitalized Derrick Rose and Blake Griffin, whose ability on the floor had been hampered by injuries, the team’s lack of early success set the stage for first-year general manager Troy Weaver to commit to the team’s wealth of young talent. Rose and Griffin played 15 and 20 games for the Pistons this year, respectively, as the team parted ways with the former superstars to open up playing time for the likes of Josh Jackson, Saddiq Bey and Killian Hayes among others.
While many of the Pistons’ young guns showed flashes of potential, with some taking large leaps on the court compared to the previous season, the team largely underperformed and was routinely outplayed by their opponents. Their team statistics placed them near the bottom of the association by most measures, as they ranked better than 17th in the league in just three categories: free throws made, free throws attempted and blocks.
As is the case with many youth-oriented franchises, the Pistons’ strengths are in their flexibility: they rank 25th in team salary, and they’ve retained their pick in the upcoming NBA Draft. At some point in the following six NBA drafts, the Pistons will have to convey one pick to the Houston Rockets, but each pick has different protections, and the Pistons will only have to worry about losing the pick if they climb from the bottom of the league’s standings or face a lottery odds disaster.
Other than the one owed to Houston, Detroit owns all of their future first-round picks. The Pistons, Rockets and Orlando Magic each hold a 14% chance of winning this year’s draft lottery, but even if the balls don’t fall Detroit’s way, the top end of this year’s class is filled with talent that can come in and potentially have an immediate impact on the court.
The Pistons can play the waiting game with their wealth of draft picks and continue to bet on the draft lottery for the next few years, but that doesn’t mean they can’t dip their toes into the free-agent market. This offseason alone, there are a number of players who would fit with Detroit’s youth movement without forcing them to break the bank.
Derrick Jones Jr. is a lengthy wing who has experience playing center in small-ball lineups, and the effort he shows on defense is apparent in his average of one block per game despite being just 6’5. With the team’s leading scorer Grant already creating a level of flexibility with lineups due to his ability to guard players at any position, adding the 25-year-old Jones Jr. would make head coach Dwane Casey’s life that much easier on the defensive end.
While Jones Jr.’s availability this offseason will depend on whether or not he opts out from his deal with the Portland Trail Blazers, one player who will find themselves an unrestricted free agent this summer is Nerlens Noel. A 27-year-old center, Noel isn’t very productive on the offensive end but remains an above average shot-blocker and rebounder. He won’t single-handedly lift the Pistons into a winning season, of course, but he’s a serviceable young player who will likely be available for cheap.
The Pistons do not need a home run in this free agency period. While it might be tempting to try to emulate the Heat’s construction of their 2019-2020 NBA Finals roster in which they landed a superstar who pushed their young talent to step into larger roles, Detroit’s roster is simply not at a point where the arrival of a star would suddenly make them a contender. Players like Bey, Jackson, Hayes, Sekou Doumbouya and Hamidou Diallo would be well-served if they were given more time to gel and develop their games. With Detroit’s good standing in draft pick ownership, there shouldn’t be any rush to get back into the winning column.
While the Pistons have never been a marquee destination in free agency, they have a chance to establish themselves as a franchise on the rise. Casey is a former Coach of the Year, earning the honor at the helm of the 2018 Toronto Raptors. Casey has experience with budding young talent, as the roster built and developed under Casey led Toronto to a championship in 2019 after acquiring Kawhi Leonard.
Weaver, who was named GM of the Pistons in June 2020, has over a decade of front office experience. He began his career as the head scout for the Utah Jazz, and during his stint with the team they pulled off a huge second-round steal in the selection of Paul Millsap late in the 2005 draft. In his first season as assistant GM of the Oklahoma City Thunder, Weaver was the most vocal executive in favor of drafting Russell Westbrook. He also had a hand in the drafting of James Harden and Serge Ibaka. That keen eye for talent bodes well for the Pistons, who will need to continue drafting effectively to prevent the rebuild from lagging behind schedule.
Because the Pistons have time, money and draft capital, they should be far from the panic button despite their abysmal record this season. With a good amount of potentially exciting players on the roster and a front office committed to building from the ground up, the Pistons could find themselves back in the race for the Eastern Conference sooner than many might expect.
