Some Detroit Pistons questions answered on the upcoming season
Talking Pistons in playoffs?
Q: So, could the Pistons make the playoffs this year?
A: Schedule helps a little, and the Commissioner Adam Silver’s obsession with having a play-in for the No. 8 seed helps even more.
By a fluke in the schedule, Minnesota played Denver in 2018 on the final day of the regular season with the winner getting the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference.
The interest that game stirred in those cities (the rest of the country could not have cared less) has led to Silver almost being obsessed with having some kind of tournament for the No. 8 seed in each conference.
The Memphis-Portland game for the No. 8 seed in the bubble was not invented for the lockdown, it was what Silver wants to see every year.
Even with the desperate need to cut down the days the season lasts, the NBA still wants to have the play-in for No. 8.
The format is not yet set but, bottom line is, if the Pistons could even finish ninth in the conference, they will most likely have some kind of post-season play.
That is not an unrealistic goal.
Even though last year kind of went off the rails at the end, Detroit only finished two games behind the ninth-place Washington Wizards in the final standings.
Q: So do we finally get to see new GM Troy Weaver in action?
A: And how. He will be a very busy man.
We know the NBA Draft will be held on November 18th. According to union executive director Michele Roberts, the free agency period should start no later than December 1.
If the season starts on December 22, that leaves three weeks between the start of free agency and when games get played that count.
The Pistons have to also somehow jam in a training camp and maybe some preseason games in that small window.
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So Weaver has to move quickly from the NBA Draft to free agency to setting up a training camp roster to having the team ready to play all in matter of 34 days.
Yes, Weaver and team president Ed Stefanski have had since the league shutdown in March to get ready for this, in theory. But not so much in reality.
The NBA just recently allowed teams to bring in draft prospects for in-site visits. Without the salary cap or luxury tax limits set, it is hard to come up with any strategy for trades or free agency.
With the No. 7 overall pick in the draft, a lot of cap space and open roster spots to fill, plus teams calling about possible trades involving Blake Griffin and Derrick Rose, the Detroit front office is going to have to be extremely nimble.
A lot of important decisions will have to be made quickly.
Q: For those in Grand Rapids, what is going to happen with the Drive?
A: Good question. I doubt they even know.
The Grand Rapids Drive, for one more season, are suppose to be the G-League affiliate of the Pistons.
The G-League shut down in March along with all the other professional sports. Unlike many others, it has not returned in any incarnation.
The NBA has a stake in the G-League playing this year, as it started up its own team, the Ignite, which it has filled with high school blue chippers.
Now, while the NBA gets about 40% of its revenue from fans at games, in the G-League it is more like 95%.
The question is, how much of the financial burden of propping up the G-League will the NBA be willing to do, if it has to start out with no or very few fans at games?
And if there is no G-League, what happens to the Pistons and it’s two-way players? How do you even have two-way players if the second way is inactive.
Right now, a 2020-21 season for the Drive is up in the air. Best guess is once the NBA details are all ironed out, the G-League situation will get settled next.
dark. Next. It looking a lot like Christmas week for Detroit Pistons return
In the near future we hope to have a Twitter mailbag to answer more questions. The draft, free agency and trade season are fast approaching.