Ten Years of Detroit Pistons Basketball Reviewed
Record: 41-41 (8th in Eastern Conference)
Head Coach: Dwane Casey
Offensive Rating: 109.0 (21st in NBA)
Defensive Rating: 109.2 (11th in NBA)
Draft Additions:
Khyri Thomas (2nd round, 38th pick)
Bruce Brown (2nd round, 42nd pick)
Free Agent/Trade Additions:
Jose Calderon
Depth Chart:
Point Guard: Reggie Jackson, Ish Smith, Jose Calderon
Shooting Guard: Bruce Brown, Luke Kennard, Reggie Bullock, Langston Galloway, Khyri Thomas
Small Forward: Stanley Johnson, Glenn Robinson, Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk
Power Forward: Blake Griffin, Thon Maker, Jon Leuer, Henry Ellenson
Center: Andre Drummond, Zaza Pachulia
Best Players: Blake Griffin, Blake Griffin, and Blake Griffin
Over the offseason, the Pistons made some changes outside of the players on the court. The Pistons elected to fire Stan Van Gundy which left a hole for both the front office and head coaching positions. The Pistons filled the front office position with Ed Stefanski and the new head coach became Dwane Casey, the reigning coach of the year. With the new front office, the new head coach, and a full season of Blake Griffin, there was some optimism amongst Pistons fans.
To say that Blake Griffin was the Detroit Pistons best player this season would be an understatement. Griffin was quite literally their entire team. Griffin had a career year for himself. With his first healthy offseason in a number of years he was ready to put the critics to rest and boy did he ever. Griffin entered the season a whole different player than he had been in the past. While his athleticism has certainly declined, Griffin showed off a tight handle and an improved three-point stroke (36 percent on 7.0 three-point attempts per game). One could make the claim that this version of Griffin (24.5 points, 7.5 rebounds, 5.4 assists) is better than any we have ever seen!
Stanley Johnson had a prove it year with his contract expiring after this season and was expected to take over the starting small forward role with no clear competition to take the spot. Johnson once again failed to tap into his immense potential and this resulted in the Pistons making the move to trade Johnson for Thon Maker.
This year’s second-round draft pick Bruce Brown was the surprise of the year when he was a day one starter and played inspiring defense the entire season. While his offensive game left much to be desired, Brown played like an NBA pro from day one and showed that his game has a lot of potentials and he could be a valuable piece for the Pistons going forward.
The Pistons finished the season 41-41, good enough for the 8th seed in the playoffs where they faced yet another four-game sweep, this time at the hands of the Milwaukee Bucks. Unlike in 2016, the last time the Pistons were in the playoffs, this time the games were not at all competitive and were actually rather sorry to watch as Blake Griffin did not play throughout most of the series and when he did you could tell he was not at 100 percent.
Despite the sad ending to the season the Pistons did manage to make the playoffs, achieving their original pre-season goal and look to build off of this.