Where do the Pistons sit in the Eastern Conference?

With most of the big free agent signings completed, now is as good a time as ever to examine where the Detroit Pistons sit in the Eastern Conference heading into 2016-17.

The Detroit Pistons’ 2015-16 season showed very promising signs and resulted in a return to the playoffs for the first time since 2009, however it would be foolish to try to predict where the Pistons are likely to end up next year without looking at the teams around them.

It appears the apex of the Eastern Conference will remain the same, with both the Cleveland Cavaliers and Toronto Raptors maintaining relatively the same core group as they had this past season.

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The Cavs parted ways with backup point guard Matthew Dellavedova, but seeing as he barely featured in the Finals that doesn’t appear to be too much of a loss. The only addition they’ve made is Mike Dunleavy who they acquired from the Chicago Bulls to further bolster their reserve shooting stocks.

The Raptors took care of re-signing DeMar DeRozan and haven’t lost any players of serious consequence.

Once you move past the top two seeds in the East things start to get interesting, and may point to a sharp climb up the standings for the Pistons.

The Miami Heat who landed the third seed in the 2016 playoffs appear to be headed towards a rebuild, with team legend Dwyane Wade signing with the Bulls.

Miami currently only has a handful of players under contract, one of those being Chris Bosh whose basketball future is uncertain, with their only current signing coming in the form of re-signing centre Hassan Whiteside.

The Atlanta Hawks are a much harder team to predict.

They no longer have Jeff Teague running the point after dealing him to the Indiana Pacers and the loss of Al Horford to the Boston Celtics is enormous, however the signing of Dwight Howard could be a great replacement if he shows up motivated and his body doesn’t let him down.

At the moment it’s hard to see the Hawk’s improving on their 2015-16 season though.

Similarly, it’s hard to tell how Charlotte will fare next year.

They re-signed Nicolas Batum and Marvin Williams and added Roy Hibbert on a bargain contract, but at the same time they lost Jeremy Lin and Courtney Lee, two very solid pieces.

On the other hand, the Boston Celtics appear almost certain to improve their position in the East with the big signing of Al Horford complimenting an already rising young team, while at the same time not losing any core pieces.

The Pistons may also find themselves battling it out with the Milwaukee Bucks and Pacers next season, as both teams have made some interesting adjustments.

The Bucks signed Dellavedova and Mirza Teletovic which will help strengthen their bench, and the Pacers signed Al Jefferson to go alongside Jeff Teague and Thaddeus Young, both of whom they acquired through trades and should make them stronger.

Other teams below the Pistons such as the Bulls, Magic and Knicks appear to be trying to contend but don’t have the pieces, with the Bulls apparently forgetting that floor spacing is important and the Knicks signing any player who had their peak year in 2011.

So how do the Pistons stack up against their competition in the East?

Rather well I’d say, for a few reasons.

The biggest reason that leads me to believe the Pistons will take a leap this year is that the bench Stan Van Gundy has assembled is light years ahead of the bench they had at their disposal in 2015-16, where they ranked last in bench scoring.

This statistic has been repeated to death, but it deserves to be because the Pistons bench was nothing short of pathetic and cost them at least half a dozen games last season.

With the signings of Ish Smith and Jon Leuer they have upgraded at both the point guard and power forward spot, with first round draft pick Henry Ellenson providing even more depth at the four.

Stanley Johnson will also be another year into his development which should help the bench problems even more.

Pistons fans still have nightmares of the stagnant bench offence and Steve Blake‘s constant turnovers from dribbling the ball off his own foot, so even with a slight increase in the quality of the bench it should lead to an increase in wins.

Another sign the Pistons will be moving up in the East is their record after trading for Tobias Harris.

While we only have a relatively small sample size to work with given Harris played just 27 games, the Pistons went 16-11, which roughly equates to a 50 win pace when expanded to an 82 game season, good enough for a top-four seed in the East.

However, when you factor in that Harris didn’t even start the first two games, both of which the Pistons lost, his record is more accurately 16-9, which puts them closer to a 53 win pace with by far the worst bench in the league.

Next: Will the Detroit Pistons have a title window?

While it’s unrealistic to expect championship contention any time soon given Cleveland and Golden State’s stranglehold over the league, a top three or four placing in the East is not out of reach.