The Detroit Pistons are currently the fourth-worst team in the NBA but you wouldn’t always know it.
The Pistons have been competitive in nearly all of their games, have beaten some of the NBA’s best teams and don’t always look like a squad that is headed for a (hopefully) top-five pick in the lottery.
This has given fans hope that the Pistons can make a leap as a team as soon as next season. Jerami Grant said as much, saying he expects his team to “do something big” next season.
The Pistons’ rebuild is ahead of schedule largely because of the play of rookies Saddiq Bey, Isaiah Stewart and Killian Hayes.
Bey and Stewart are top-ten rookies from this draft and could end up on the first-team All-Rookie squad while Hayes has shown tantalizing flashes since returning from injury.
I tend to agree with Grant that the Pistons could make that leap next season and be a playoff contender in the Eastern Conference, much how the Knicks jumped from bottom feeder to playoffs in one offseason.
But what are the Detroit Pistons’ biggest needs heading into the offseason? Let’s take a look.
Detroit Pistons: The Pistons need more talent
This is the most obvious statement ever made about a team that has been at the bottom of the East for most of the season, but it’s true.
The Detroit Pistons simply need more impact talent, as right now they have several guys on their roster who aren’t big contributors.
They will obviously try to add some of this in the 2021 NBA Draft, but they also need more quality veterans to fill out their bench.
If the Pistons nail their first-round pick and can grab another veteran who fits their culture, say, someone like Josh Hart, then they could make that leap.
But before bad teams worry about position and fit they have to worry about talent and right now the Pistons simply don’t have enough. Guys likes Rodney McGruder, Wayne Ellington, Cory Joseph, Dennis Smith Jr. and Jahlil Okafor can all be upgraded to better players.
If the Pistons can swap them out for better talent, that might be all it takes to climb into the playoff discussion.