Why get excited about Pistons this season? Actual progress

"The 2008-09 Detroit Pistons needed a superstar player who could get his own shot, and it was reasonable to expect that Allen Iverson was the player to do it.The 2009-10 Pistons simply needed more offense to fit the league-wide trend of more wide open, positionless systems, and it was reasonable to expect that Ben Gordon, Charlie Villanueva and Austin Daye would help the Pistons look more like the :07 seconds or less Phoenix Suns.The 2010-11 Pistons just needed some veteran leadership, and the return of Ben Wallace, along with healthy seasons from Tayshaun Prince and Richard Hamilton would positively impact the team’s young talent.The 2011-12 Pistons needed more positional balance, and the subtraction of Hamilton would allow Gordon to finally assert himself as the offensive force the team envisioned when they signed him.The 2012-13 Pistons just needed veteran leadership, just not as much as they had in 2010-11, so re-signing Prince to a four-year deal as the team’s sole leader would ensure that the team’s young players were properly mentored.The 2013-14 Pistons were in a position to add significant talent in the offseason, and it was important to add it no matter the cost or fit. After all, talent is more important than fit, right?"

Those scenarios are all hilariously naive, of course (for 13-14, I would also accept “the Pistons were talented, but just needed a non-taskmaster coach, which made Maurice Cheeks a logical choice”). And yet a surprising number of Pistons fans, myself included, talked themselves into some variation of each prior to or early in each of those seasons. I’m not complaining about that — part of the job of every sports fan is to believe in the irrational. But after six years and counting of talking myself into wildly implausible scenarios working out for the absolute best only to watch them hilariously (and, let’s be honest, expectedly) go off the rails, I’ve been running out of energy to write about the team and running out of things to say.

Then the Pistons lost their lottery pick this year, and I was more than tired — at the time, I had no idea how I was going to invest time into even watching (WWE Network did just add old episodes of Nitro, after all), let alone occasionally writing lame jokes poorly disguised as analysis, this season. As much as I love Stan Van Gundy and can’t wait to watch him condescend to beat writers in press conferences, this offseason wasn’t exactly exciting. Apologies to Jodie Meeks and D.J. Augustin (and oh God, they really signed Aaron Gray for some reason too??), two players who are probably solid additions, but they don’t exactly make you get over losing a lottery pick in a draft filled with shooters, wing defenders and versatile bigs.

Maybe that’s an improvement, though. I’m not going into this season pretending that Tracy McGrady is a potential impact signing, or that Maurice Cheeks miraculously learned how to coach, or that you can dangle open perimeter looks in front of Josh Smith as a small forward and expect him to not indulge. Instead, I’m excited about little things that have a much better chance of materializing into something fun. Here are my rankings:

1. No one’s job is on the line.

I was no fan of the job Joe Dumars has done for, oh, about seven years or so, dating back to some moves or non-moves late in the team’s run of greatness that could’ve prolonged it, strengthened the bench or offered better opportunities to develop some of the younger players who went on to be useful elsewhere (namely, Amir Johnson and Carlos Delfino). Still, no one likes watching a team when it’s clear jobs are on the line — I don’t think a ‘win or else’ edict has ever actually led to winning. Van Gundy will rightly get at least a few years to get his system in place and the type of players he wants before we have to worry about that again, and that will make following the Pistons a much less serious undertaking (although I give it until about December 5 before talk radio callers are suggesting he should be fired).

2. They have a D-League team!

I love the D-League and, in general, fringe NBA players desperately trying to get an opportunity. I’m mildly disappointed that Tom Gores, a Flint area native (not a “Flint” native, Tom … suburbanites love to try and tell the outside world that we’re all Flint natives as if “Flint” and “Genesee Township” are one in the same, but I’m onto you), didn’t locate the team in Flint, Michigan, aka Hoop City USA. But the lack of viable arena and not great (but improving!) economy, combined with the fact that Grand Rapids is one of the most livable cities in the country made that a pipe dream, so I’m over it.

On to business though, the Grand Rapids Drive need to sign Doug Anderson, right now. I don’t know if Doug is good enough to play in the NBA, but I do know that his athleticism and high flying act would draw crowds. He was not only a star at Kalamazoo Central, Mott Community College and the University of Detroit, he was a draw. Kzoo, Flint, Detroit … that’s three key regions in the state where Doug has a following. Sign him and watch your arena fill up every night. Here’s more enticement (pay particular attention to the lob he catches and finishes on the break at about the :26 second mark):

Also, Spencer Dinwiddie better find out where Grand Rapids is.

3. Andre Drummond

I jumped the gun a tad last year by predicting that Drummond would make the leap all the way to Defensive Player of the Year. Turns out, Dre still hadn’t really figured out that whole defense thing beyond “try and smash every shot into the fifth row.” But that’s really the only thing he hasn’t figured out (well, that and maybe dating), and once he does pick up on the more nuanced, instinctual aspects of defense, he’ll be that caliber immediately. So I’d probably pick him as a Defensive Player of the Year candidate again this year and feel pretty comfortable with it despite how lost he looked at times. Once it clicks, it will click fast, and he’ll immediately be the best.

4. Cheap tickets

The 2003 Detroit Tigers are my favorite Tigers team of all-time. They were awful at baseball, obviously, but infinitely likable. But the best part was it was super affordable to attend their games and watch Bobby Higginson get super mad at the fans who heckled him mercilessly. You could get a ticket, food and a drink for around $10, so on a college budget, I was able to go with friends to about 20 games that season.

The Pistons are in that same boat. There has been so little interest in actually attending games in recent years, that they’re offering great deals to get fans to the Palace. Their 10-game plans include just about every team/star you’d want to see for as little as just under $10 per game. A friend just bought one of the packages, then got greedy and tried to negotiate to get the season opener thrown in for free. He didn’t get it, but got offered all of the home preseason games for free. That’s a steal!

The Pistons still have a decent arena experience, the Palace is easy to access, the team should be at least moderately better and, most importantly, they would really, really like you to go watch, so they’ll work with you to get you there.

5. Feuds with other writers and commenters

My writing style isn’t for everyone, and in fact has really (hilariously) angered some people over the years. Last year, I had a guy fight with me on Twitter because I made fun of goatees in a post, and another reader defended Kim Jong Un to me in a series of emails after I wrote about Dennis Rodman’s regrettable North Korea media tour. That … is a weird stand to take, but I’m proud of him for doing it. In another way, I think he’s a lunatic.

Anyway, I’ve had some entertaining fights with readers, I’ve had over-sensitive reporters slide into my DMs on Twitter in response to jokes and I’ve started friendly blog feuds. What I’m trying to say, is I look forward to offending this season, and I hope all of you feel the same way about me.

6. Stan Van Gundy’s crankiness

I’m most looking forward to this in press conference form. Reporters in media scrums tend to ask simplistic questions. Sometimes this is in the interest of just needing a simple quote to plug into the story quickly on deadline, sometimes writers covering teams aren’t comfortable asking in-depth Xs-and-Os questions in those settings, sometimes when a coach or player only has a few minutes and you’re competing with multiple reporters at once, you phrase a question poorly. Whatever the cause, bad or simple questions happen a lot. Most athletes and coaches are used to it and let it go.

You know who doesn’t let it go, though? Mr. Stan Van Gundy. He has a history of openly letting reporters know when they ask a weak question (I believe our own Dan Feldman has a story he can share sometime about a question he asked covering a Wizards-Magic game about Kevin Seraphin … I’ll let him provide the details though), and I can’t wait for it to happen after the Pistons lose games due to Josh Smith shooting 1,000 long twos or Brandon Jennings never playing defense. Which brings me to …

7. Josh Smith and Brandon Jennings are still here!

That has to be kind of an upset, right? Listen, despite modest improvements to Jennings’ willingness to pass, I’m not super enthused about watching either of them again if it involves the undisciplined way they played last season. But I could certainly get behind watching a coach/team president who really doesn’t have anything invested in either guy since the previous regime brought them in either getting something out of them or yanking them on the nights they prove to be particularly ineffective. The reality is, Jennings and Smith have never played for anyone you would confuse with a good NBA coach. I’m actually fairly excited to see how they respond to Van Gundy’s coaching and how he attempts to use them within his system.

8. Will Bynum

Because he forever makes my list. Other than Drummond and Monroe, Bynum is the only bright spot over the last six years of Pistons basketball. Despite some obvious flaws, he plays hard, he’s exciting and he’s worked hard to find a niche as a NBA player. I don’t think he’s necessarily a fit for Van Gundy, and there is clearly competition at the point guard spot that makes it look like Bynum could be gone by the time the season starts, but I would never bet on him losing any fair competition.

See? I just made a list of eight full things to look forward to this season without once talking myself into something that is wildly implausible. So OK … there’s a chance the team is still bad, they’re probably going to lose Greg Monroe for nothing. The point is, even though there are still things to complain about, legitimate progress has been made for the first time in closing in on a decade. Only two more months to the season, folks.