The start of the NBA regular season is drawing near for the Detroit Pistons. The team’s Wednesday night tip-off against the Chicago Bulls is just two days away.
Detroit had a hit-or-miss preseason as their young roster battled injuries and inexperience.
The Detroit Pistons started off strong with a 115-110 victory over the San Antonio Spurs. They followed that up with a disappointing 127-92 loss on the road against the Memphis Grizzlies.
The team looked like it was ready to bounce back against the New York Knicks. Detroit held a lead up until the end of the third quarter when the Knicks quickly turned the game in their favor. Detroit finished the preseason off on a positive note with a 112-108 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers.
The first overall pick, Cade Cunningham, missed the entirety of the preseason with an ankle injury. Sophomore point guard Killian Hayes missed all but 22 minutes of preseason action with a concussion. Second-year wing Saddiq Bey also missed the final two preseason games after also going down with an injury.
At times, Detroit flashed its immense potential as a young basketball team. At others, it was clear the starters were inexperienced and the bench was not used to playing together yet.
There are many questions for the Detroit Pistons heading into the regular season.
It remains to be seen how a banged-up preseason team will play together once they are all healthy. Detroit has plenty of young talent with potential, but HC Dwane Casey has been adamant about playing a 10 man rotation.
To help answer some of these questions, and a few more, I sat down with James Edwards III of The Athletic.