Should the Detroit Pistons be scared of the Indiana Pacers?

The Indiana Pacers made big moves leading up the 2016 NBA Draft, acquiring point guard Jeff Teague and forward Thaddeus Young. Life in the Eastern Conference’s Central Division just got tougher.

It’s no secret that the Cleveland Cavaliers own the East. Sitting behind them are the Toronto Raptors, the Miami Heat and the Atlanta Hawks, three veteran teams with playoff experience. Behind them is a group of promising young teams like the Detroit Pistons who hope to one day make the jump to the upper half of the Eastern Conference to unseat the Cavaliers. While the Boston Celtics and Charlotte Hornets may not have made any moves to strike the fear in their opponents on Thursday night, the same can’t be said for the Indiana Pacers.

On Wednesday, June 22, the day before the NBA Draft, the Pacers were involved in a three-team trade that sent George Hill to the Utah Jazz in exchange for Jeff Teague from the Hawks. Then on draft day, they traded their No. 20 pick to the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for forward Thaddeus Young. Teague and Young, both stars on their respective teams, will join a strong core that includes All-Star Paul George and promising second-year player Myles Turner.

The Pacers earned the No. 7 seed in 2015-16, finishing one game ahead of the Pistons, and took the eventual Eastern Conference runner-up Toronto Raptors to seven games before bowing out in the opening round. They beat Detroit three games to one in the season series, with George shredding the Pistons in the team’s three wins.

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Maybe Detroit shouldn’t lose any sleep over what Indiana is doing, but it seems worth mentioning that the Pistons aren’t the only team looking to make a leap from the bottom of the Eastern Conference playoff bracket. And the Pacers have what Detroit, at least right now, does not: a superstar in Paul George who led his team within one win of the NBA Finals in 2013.

Here’s the good news: the Boston Celtics weren’t able to parlay their eight draft picks into a blockbuster trade, instead selecting California’s Jaylen Brown at No. 3 and a handful of draft-and-stash European players later in the first round. The Chicago Bulls are still a mess, the Charlotte Hornets are going to have a hard time resigning Jeremy Lin, Courtney Lee, Marvin Williams and Nic Batum, and who knows how much of a step back the Hawks will take with point guard Dennis Schroder at the helm and Al Horford and Kent Bazemore contemplating free agency.

Next: 3-on-3: Reaction to the Detroit Pistons drafting Henry Ellenson

More good news for Detroit: Stan Van Gundy and Jeff Bower got their guy. The Pistons selected Marquette’s Henry Ellenson at No. 18, adding size, strength, playmaking and shooting at the power forward position–a big priority for Detroit, especially after watching Cleveland’s Kevin Love destroy Marcus Morris and Tobias Harris in the post in their recent first-round playoff defeat.

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