Detroit’s evolution last season was incredible. I remember the Pistons were the worst team in the league in 2023-24, having won just 14 games. Without making a real revolution in their roster, Detroit won 30 more games last season by ending the year with a 44-38 record and a direct playoff spot with the #6 seed.
The surprise wasn’t only during the regular season as also during the playoffs, the Pistons took the Knicks to the limit in a decisive G7 that was only decided on a last game shot by Jalen Brunson.
So, what caused Detroit to have such a tremendous turnaround?
Well, the Pistons added some veterans to their roster: Tobias Harris, Tim Hardaway Jr and Malik Beasley contributed to the team’s success but they weren’t the main factor as that was coach J.B. Bickerstaff who, after being fired by Cleveland, managed to apply an adequate style to a young Pistons squad.
Detroit became a physical team on both ends. They continued being a team that committed too many turnovers and they weren’t a good shooting team either, but they attacked the paint and were a top 10 offensive rebounding team in the league. Defensively, they also had protecting the paint as their main focus. They were #6 in shots allowed at the rim and #7 in defending such shots (FG% allowed). In those same metrics, Detroit had been ranked #19 and #26 in the previous season. This improvement was achieved due to their duo of Centers formed by Jalen Duren and Isaiah Stewart.
Cade Cunningham was Detroit’s best player and he had a career season with career highs across the board with multiple great clutch moments during the season. The only negative aspect was his 4.4 turnovers per game.
In a weakened conference, I expect Detroit to use the momentum they bring from last season, as their main core is young and is all back for this new season. The team’s main hope for this year is in Jaden Ivey. He only played 30 games last season as he got injured in January, but his shooting numbers were very good with 46.0% FG and 40.9% 3pts.
However, despite Ivey’s good offensive numbers, his chemistry with Cunningham wasn’t the best. Both shared the court for 1068 possessions but the Pistons were outscored in them by 4.2 points per 100 possessions. Actually, when he got hurt, the Pistons had a subpar 15-18 record that only improved without Ivey playing. That happened because Ausar Thompson started playing more with Ivey’s injury and he had a great impact on the team, especially on defense.
Detroit is likely to start the new season with Cade, Ivey and Thompson playing together at the same time in the starting lineup. However, these three players were only on court at the same time last season for 21 possessions. So, finding the right chemistry among them will be coach Bickerstaff’s main challenge this season.
The Pistons made some minor changes this offseason as Simone Fontecchio, Tim Hardaway Jr, Dennis Schröder and Malik Beasley all left the team and got replaced by Javonte Green, Caris LeVert and Duncan Robinson. I don’t think these moves will dramatically change the team’s fate this season and it will be the team’s chemistry in their young backcourt (or lack of it) that will determine how good Detroit will be this season.