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.
Cade, Killian and Saddiq all missed time in the preseason, do you have any insight on when their return to the lineup might be?
Edwards III: Sounds like Killian should be good to go for the season opener. Dwane said he practiced on Sunday. Saddiq went through partial practice on Sunday so I’d imagine he’s probably, I don’t know for sure, but it sounds like he’s on course to go for the opener.
Cade is the wildcard. Dwane says he’s on track. He didn’t practice on Sunday, and I know Dwane previously said he’d like to get Cade a handful of practices in before he returned. This is just me guessing, I would be surprised if Cade plays in the season opener, but Dwane said they’d track his progress as these next few days play out.
Fans haven’t seen much of Cade since he played in Summer League. What kind of player should fans expect to be getting when he does return to the lineup?
Edwards III: I think it’s going to be similar to what you saw in Summer League. A guy who is going to initiate some offense. A guy who is going to play off-ball next to Killian. I think his jump shot is going to be his greatest strength as he starts. He shot 50 percent in Summer League, in very few games but he shot 50 percent. His shooting is going to be what he is able to fall back on as he gets adjusted to NBA speed, length, athleticism. They should expect defensive effort too, there’s some real defensive potential there.
Casey has said he wants to run a 10 man rotation. The Detroit Pistons run deep with young talent. Who do you think will be the odd-men out in that rotation?
Edwards III: When everybody is healthy I think Frank Jackson and Josh Jackson earn the backup wing minutes over Hamidou Diallo. Not that Hamidou played bad, I just think the other two popped a little bit more and are bringing more of what Casey is looking for right now. Saben Lee, I think it’s going to be tough for him to find minutes with Corey Joseph, Killian and Cade, assuming Cade is good to go sooner rather than later.
What has been something that has surprised you about the team this preseason?
Edwards III: Josh Jackson’s decision-making has been great, for the most part. I really liked some of the passes he’s made, the extra pass. He’s playing very simple. He’s still being Josh Jackson and being aggressive and scoring the ball, but he’s toned down on some of his turnovers by making the right read and not trying to force as much as he has in the past.
Trey Lyles has looked good, obviously as a floor spacer but putting the ball on the floor and making things happen has been, I’m sure for Dwane Casey, good to see. Frank Jackson is picking up where he left off last year scoring the ball. Jerami Grant looks comfortable and confident in his role. He knows where he’s at in his career, what the team needs and what he is able to do with a year under his belt.
What do you see as Detroit’s biggest weaknesses heading into the regular season?
Edwards III: I think turnovers are going to be an issue. They struggled with turnovers for most of the preseason and that was without their two young backcourt guys playing together. The history of the NBA says young guards struggle with turnovers. and I think Cade and Killian are going to struggle with turnovers.
Rebounding is going to be interesting. Are they going to get enough from the wing guys to help Isaiah Stewart, like Jerami Grant? Casey said on Sunday he wants Grant to have five or six rebounds, at least, a game. Frank Jackson had some really good rebounding games, can he keep that up? Same with Josh Jackson, can he keep that up? They’re going to need a group effort to rebound well.
What about their strengths?
Edwards III: It’s the fight that they have. This team is made up of guys who compete at a very high level, who compete throughout the course of a game. I think they’re going to stay in a lot of games and make games very annoying for better opponents because of that, similar to last year. It’s going to be a continuation of that. It’s a team that’s going to play hard night-in and night-out and I don’t think that’s going away.
Do you think anyone on this roster could have a breakout season?
Edwards III: I think Frank Jackson could get some more national recognition as a Sixth-Man of the Year type of guy. I think that depends on Detroit’s record, but I think Frank could come off the bench and get you double figures scoring. I think he has that in him. It’ll be interesting to see if he gets there. From what we’ve seen in the preseason, he’s lighting the basket up, he’s shooting well, he’s getting to the rim. I think there’s potential there for a more nationally recognized season for Frank Jackson.
Which players are you most excited to write stories about this year?
Edwards III: Frank is one. He’s an interesting guy, very nice guy, very interesting, very unique, same with Saddiq, Isaiah Stewart, great background. Really a lot of the guys, there are some interesting stories on this team. You could go down the roster and I’ve got some stuff I want to get done with pretty much everyone. It’s a good group, good personalities, all interesting backgrounds, so I’m looking forward to covering this team in person.
What do you see as the next step for this team as they try to continue their restoration?
Edwards III: Establishing who is going to be here long-term and who is not. I don’t think they’re going to do a ton of winning this year. With all their cap space coming up I think they’re going to try to have a good idea on who’s going to be here long-term, who maybe they want to cut bait on. I think maybe quicker than expected they’re going to make some decisions on young guys because they do have so much cap space coming up. I think that they’re establishing who is truly part of the core when you’re talking three, four years down the road from now.
What do you see as the Detroit Pistons’ ceiling this year?
Edwards III: The absolute ceiling would be being one of the play-in teams, the ninth, tenth seed. I don’t know if I’d bet money on that happening, but I think it wouldn’t be a complete shock if Detroit got one of the last two play-in spots this year.