Detroit Pistons: Doubts from the average fan about the upcoming season

There’s fans that are optimistic about the Detroit Pistons. On the other hand, there’s a lot of fans that have reasons for doubt about this team.

There’s quite the mixed opinion about the Detroit Pistons and the upcoming season. Some say contend and others are saying blow it up for a fresh start. Where do you stand?

Reasons for Optimism

The core is the reason for optimism with this team. The Detroit Pistons haven’t had someone of Blake Griffin‘s caliber in a long time. Andre Drummond continues to get better each season and is still very young.

Reggie Jackson is one of the better point guards in the eastern conference when he’s healthy. There’s also a lot of untapped potential among the young players on this roster.

Dwane Casey was the head coach of the year in the NBA last season while coaching the Toronto Raptors. The front office has been re-vamped as well.

LeBron James left for Los Angeles, leaving the conference and central division wide open. Is there a clear favorite in the east?

These are all reasons why the fans are optimistic about the upcoming season. Let’s get to the ugly stuff now.

Reasons fans are skeptical

I used the word ‘potential’ to describe the younger players on Detroit’s roster. That’s a word that gets tossed around by a lot of Piston fans.

Potential is fun to consider when you think about this team. If everything goes right, the Detroit Pistons could end up in really good position for the postseason.

Stanley Johnson was drafted eighth overall in the 2015 draft because of his ‘potential’ on the basketball court. Henry Ellenson has been kept around for the same reason.

The frustrating thing about potential is that not everyone reaches it. It’s proven time and time again in professional sports.

Health is clearly a concern. Jackson has missed a lot of games over the last two seasons. Griffin has had injury problems throughout his career because of his physical style of play.

If either of those two go down for a significant amount of time, all that potential goes down the train along with their season.

The Detroit Pistons lack the star power to compete with the big dogs in the east as well. Can anyone honestly say with confidence that they would take down either Boston or Philadelphia in a seven-game series in the playoffs?

How about Casey’s old team? Kyle Lowry and Kawhi Leonard make for a dynamic duo that will surely keep Toronto in the mix.

Let’s not even get started with the western conference.

Stuck in the middle

The Detroit Pistons are loaded with contracts and are essentially handcuffed from making any moves that will improve their roster. It’s going to be like that for the next few seasons as well.

They can be good. Ultimately, it’s hard to see them being great and that’s where a line should be drawn. It was fun a few years ago when this team was in the middle of the pack.

The Detroit Pistons rose from irrelevancy and made the playoffs. It was fun because of the potential. There’s that word again.

The last two years have proven their failures to live up to the so-called ‘potential’ of the team. Talent-wise outside of Detroit’s core group, there’s just not enough firepower to rise from the middle of the pack in the east.

Look, I’d love to see this team rise to the occasion. Every fan would love to see the stars align and this team be a contender in the eastern conference.

I just don’t see it happening. What do you think?