This year’s Detroit Pistons roster bears almost no relation to last season. Here are five players who could have a major impact this year.
We won’t wait long to see the crop of newcomers in action after a rollercoaster last couple of week that saw the Detroit’s Pistons‘ pivot towards what they hope to be a more optimistic future.
Now, how will coach Dwane Casey navigate a team with a broad spectrum of experience? Also, who will emerge as the most impactful players this season?
If you blinked during the beginning of the NBA’s shortest ever offseason in , you may have missed Troy Weaver make several key moves. The new Detroit Piston’s GM used dynamite to destroy what was a rotting, old wooden barn of a roster. He looks to be slowly rebuilding it with sturdy, new material.
Weaver acted boldly and swiftly, as if he couldn’t wait to turn this increasingly forgettable franchise upside down upon itself. After the dust settled, from the draft to the first day of free agency, the Pistons are left with only four players from last years roster, and plenty of new mouths to feed.
Say what you want about the moves Weaver made, what he did was long overdue and he should be commended for it.
Having a legitimate GM who understands the process of building a relevant, winning team gives Piston’s fans something they haven’t had in more than a decade – hope.
While there still may be moves to be made in the future, it looks like most of the roster for the start of the season is about set.
This season will certainly be a developmental one for most players, but an audition for others. Weaver has already proven he’s not afraid to shake things up, and it looks like he will be aggressive in molding this team into a contender.
Considering all the changes made so far, here are my predictions for the five most impactful players currently on the roster:
1. Blake Griffin:
Assuming every player on this list remains healthy for the season (a big if, particularly with the virus), Blake Griffin is still the best and most impactful performer the Detroit Pistons have on their roster.
Yes, the athleticism is not like when he was with the ‘Lob City” Clippers and he is now approaching age 32, but Griffin has already proven he can bounce back from injury, if given enough time to recover.
Griffin’s 2018-19 campaign may have been the best season of his career, and he was coming off an injury plagued season prior. By all recent accounts, we can assume that Griffin should still be a valuable player given the rest he’s had to recover from last season’s injury. Casey has said Griffin looks like great in training camp.
The veteran 6-foot-9 forward has always been consistently willing to develop his skill sets to compensate for his lack of elite athleticism. Having more playmakers around Griffin this season will only help take the toll off his body, and could very well create more efficient opportunities for him on offense.
For the Pistons future, it will be more important for Griffin to take a larger step as a leader than a performer this season. The large crop of young players will be looking for his veteran presence to guide them through adapting to an NBA landscape, in an extremely shortened offseason.