The lineup the Detroit Pistons roll out on opening night likely won’t be met with too many questions, so here’s what it will likely look like.
The Detroit Pistons front office did an outstanding job adding talent to the roster with the limited money that they had to spend. The point guard rotation – although may be slightly unreliable – can provide stability. Coach Dwane Casey was notorious last season for playing “lineup roulette” for the first 35-40 games of the season, as he was attempting to figure out what combinations of players worked, and which ones didn’t.
This season should be relatively simple. There aren’t too many liabilities on either end of the floor and the players Detroit signed more or less already know their roles. The lineup the Detroit Pistons roll out on opening night likely won’t be met with too many questions, so here’s what it will likely look like:
PG: Reggie Jackson
SG: Bruce Brown
SF: Tony Snell
PF: Blake Griffin
Though it seems that many would like to see new addition Derrick Rose start at the point guard position, it’s best for him to run with the second unit for reasons we’ll discuss soon.
Tony Snell, who was acquired via trade from Milwaukee just ahead of draft night adds wing depth to a team that was severely lacking a season ago when Glenn Robinson III was the only true small forward on the roster.
The tandem of Drummond and Griffin will continue to dominate and there will presumably be zero questions about that. Bruce Brown saw a majority of his Summer League minutes playing point guard, but unless the position sees significant injuries and the team starts lacking depth, he’ll remain seeing his time at shooting guard increase.
What’s interesting, is this lineup likely won’t be in place during a late game setting, but we’ll talk about that later as well.