10 Bold predictions for the Pistons and NBA in 2024-25 season
The Detroit Pistons start their 2024-25 campaign tonight at home against the Indiana Pacers.
There is a dulled excitement around the team, as fans want to believe they will be better, but have been burned enough to know better than to get our hopes up.
I am Homer #1 and even my predictions have been tempered so far this season, something that is about to change with some wild prophecies about what will go down this year.
#10: The Detroit Pistons will be the surprise good team
Last season, I picked the Indiana Pacers as my surprise team in the Eastern Conference and they made the ECF, so I am hoping some of that magic will rub off on the Pistons. While I don’t expect Detroit to make the playoffs, I do think they will outperform most predictions about their win total and end up with 30+ wins.
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For most teams, that would be a poor outcome, but for the Pistons, it would be a big step in the right direction and a sign that Trajan Langdon isn’t going to be another Troy Weaver.
#9: The Philadelphia 76ers will be the surprise bad team
I picked the 76ers in this spot last season as well and they finished just 7th in the East. I said this at the time of the trade and I’ll say it again, relying on two injury-prone players on the wrong side of 30 with little depth behind them is not a recipe for success.
Embiid is already hurt and will miss at least the first week of the season. This was on top of announcing he won’t be playing in the second game of a back-to-back for the rest of his career.
Paul George is also out for the opener and if I were a Philly fan, I’d be concerned, as he played 74 games last season, which he hadn’t sniffed in the previous four. Odd how it came in a contract year... But are we likely to see it again? Nope. Philly will be lucky to get 100 combined games out of these two.
Philadelphia doesn’t have much quality depth behind them, as teams are not going to be scared of Andre Drummond and Eric Gordon.
I like Philly to finish even lower than last season and to possibly miss the playoffs.