Do the Detroit Pistons have enough veterans?

The Detroit Pistons will be a young team this upcoming NBA season, but it will not be entirely a kiddie korps. What veterans will be on the roster, and what will their roles be?

Pistons general manager Troy Weaver has stated that Detroit ‘will always have veterans as long as I’m here’ and he certainly has been a man of his word.

Unlike the famous ‘Process’ of Sam Hinkie’s Philadelphia 76ers, where it was all rookies, free agents and anyone else who could not help a team win, Weaver has maintained a veteran presence on the team.

The reasons for keeping some greybeards are obvious. Like in real life, youngsters take their cue from the older adults in their circle. How many times have you heard ‘he is just like his father’ or ‘she’s just like her mother’ and vice versa.

Until the early 70s, a player was not eligible for the NBA until four years after they graduated high school (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar played all four years at UCLA, first year on the freshman team, that is how much times have changed).

But, now, most NBA rookies are not even old enough to drink (legally) alcohol. You have 18 to 20-year olds with no idea how the world works, particularly the complicated life of an NBA player entering the league. They need, and in most instances, want, some guidance from players who have been there, on how to comport themselves.

Simple things like, where should they live, how to pack for road trips, how much sleep to get. They have never had to figure this out before on their own.

Colleges usually only play two games a week, so they have to adjust to the accelerated NBA grind, where you could have four games in five days in three different cities.

And they also need to learn how to basically live their life, for the first time, in a non-school environment. When not playing basketball at Oklahoma State, Cade Cunningham had classes to take, homework to do. Now, when practice is done, it’s all free time.

Some players adjust to life as a young adult well, others do not.

Detroit had positive role models on last year’s team who, according to the young players, were glad to mentor. First, Derrick Rose and Blake Griffin were the team leaders and, after they left, veterans Cory Joseph, Mason Plumlee, Wayne Ellington and Rodney McGruder were still there at the end to provide guidance.

Whatever you think of them as players, these are all good guys (well, the Warriors may disagree about McGruder, but we like him), who are hard workers, great in locker rooms and players who inexperienced kids can see how to conduct themselves in a prope fashion.

Of course, rosters change for every NBA team from season to season, but particularly for teams that go 20-52 the year before. With the draft over, and free agency looking like it is pretty much done for Detroit (outside of its own), the Pistons roster for 2021-22 seems basically set.

So let’s take a look on who will be giving advice to Cade Cunningham (and others) on what they NBA is all about this season. Any player with more than three years of NBA service and over the age of 25, will be classified as a veteran.

(Players will be listed based on projected impact on the court)