The Detroit Pistons have emerged from the 2015-16 preseason more or less unscathed, and some questions regarding the team’s roster have been answered. They went 3-5, with all three wins being high-scoring blowouts where the shots fell from everywhere, but several of the losses were pretty uninspired efforts.
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Granted, we’re going to see that in the preseason, and there will be regular season games as well that for good reasons or bad will be lackluster performances, but the loss to the Brooklyn Nets particularly stood out as disappointing. Hopefully the Pistons weren’t displaying a tendency to look past lesser opponents and it can be just chalked up to an awful night in the NBA preseason.
Roster cuts
A couple of days before the Monday deadline to get NBA rosters down to 15 players, the Pistons came out with all but their final cut and got down to 16. The team placed Adonis Thomas, Cartier Martin and Jordan Bachynski on waivers Friday, and the smart money is on Danny Granger being the final cut come Monday.
Granger has been rehabing his knee in Arizona and has been absent from the team all training camp and preseason. It was a joint decision between Granger and the team, according to head coach Stan Van Gundy back in September before training camp began.
"“I think it’s better for him and for us if he stays right there in Arizona and does his rehab and when he gets to a point that he’s ready to play and compete, then we will bring him in,” Van Gundy said after the Pistons conducted a Basketball 101 presentation for the media."
As we’ve seen, he isn’t yet in that condition and there seems to be no firm timetable for his return, so expect him to be the last one out the door.
Reggie Bullock
One of the most pleasant surprises this preseason has been the Reggie Bullock experience. At the beginning of the preseason he was one of the favorites to not make the team, and he was expected by many to be among the cuts that were just made Friday.
Then he got on the floor, and the rest has been history. Bullock scored 10.7 points per game, playing 19 minutes per, and hit 62.5% of his shots, and 52% from three-point range. With the injury to Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (more on that shortly) Bullock might get a bit more run than expected to start the season, than when the Pistons started talking about picking up his option for the year a couple of weeks ago.
Injuries
The Pistons did manage to emerge from the preseason mostly healthy with one exception. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope injured his foot in the preseason finale against the Atlanta Hawks, but he is expected back by the season opener on Tuesday.
"“It’s nothing long-term,” coach Stan Van Gundy said. “He’ll be back, probably, in practice on the weekend but he’ll be back for Tuesday, for sure.”"
The Pistons are actually healthier now than they were when preseason action began, as Aron Baynes, Steve Blake and Reggie Jackson were all sidelined with various injuries to start these games don’t count. Baynes, Blake and Jackson are all back and ready to go.
Also on the injury report you will find Granger, and Brandon Jennings who is rehabilitating a torn Achilles. Jennings is hoping for a December return.
Individual performances
The Pistons got some very solid preseason contributions from Andre Drummond. 15.5 points on 53.2% shooting and 12 rebounds per game would be a pretty nice boost for the team if those numbers can carry over to the regular season.
He’s been efficient, he hasn’t gotten into foul trouble (only 2.5 per game, well below his 3.5 per game from last year) and he’s gotten a block per game to boot.
Stanley Johnson is another guy we’ve gotten to see do some things. The rookie scored 13.5 points per game in the preseason, adding four rebounds, two assists and 1.8 steals per game.
His shooting from the floor has been a bit of a concern, as he’s hitting 40.2% but had some very cold nights during the preseason. He also hit 36% of his threes, which is an acceptable number if that’s what we can expect going forward.
Marcus Morris is another guy who had all eyes on him, and he delivered a solid preseason. He won himself the starting small forward job, at least for now, with an effort that logged a stat-line of 12.4 points and five rebounds per game, and he shot an efficient 49% from the field and 42% from three.
In conclusion
The Pistons accomplished pretty much everything you set out to get done in a preseason, and that is to emerge healthy. The position battles wrapped up pretty much the way they should have, with Morris beating out Johnson at small forward and KCP weathering a mild challenge from Jodie Meeks to secure the shooting guard spot.
Once the final roster cut is made, this team will be ready to get the season started, and we can finally let the games begin.
Next: Detroit Pistons blow out Atlanta Hawks in win