Detroit Pistons: The future is the only thing that matters for the Pistons

Look at the NBA Eastern Conference and you’ll once again see the Detroit Pistons are way, way down at the bottom. At this point, the Pistons are a forgotten franchise to many. The organization, and to some extent the fans, deluded themselves into thinking that their rebuild would be quick, a model for other teams to follow.

The Detroit Pistons are joined in the basement by the Indiana Pacers, Orlando Magic, and Boston Celtics. The Magic are certainly on the upswing as Jalen Suggs and Franz Wagner appear to be future stars blossoming right now. The Pacers just simply can’t be this bad the entire season, right? Malcolm Brogdon and Domantis Sabonis are better than that, at least I thought. As for the Celtics, well, I can’t see them remaining in the bottom ten for the entire season either.

For the Detroit Pistons the future is all that matters

The Pistons have shown no sign of life. Jerami Grant is showing that he can be a defensive stopper and an excellent complementary player, but he is not the franchise cornerstone he looked like last year. The league may have figured him out and he has not been an elite offensive weapon so far this season. Saddiq Bey and Isaiah Stewart are both playing fairly well for second-year players, but neither has gotten hot at all this year.

Kelly Olynyk should not be the third-best player on a competitive NBA team, but he’s the third-best Piston. It makes sense why the Pistons are not a competitive NBA team now. The saving grace is Cade Cunningham. In two games his shooting has been totally awful BUT he looks like a real and confident NBA player. Will he win Rookie of the Year? Probably not, but once his shots start falling I will feel incredibly confident with him handling the ball.

It’s not all bad. Cade looks like he has a lot of potential and Jerami Grant is a complementary player, one of the best in the league. However, the Pistons will be returning to the NBA Draft Lottery and with any luck will be picking in the top three again. This is the part that enrages me as a fan. The Detroit Pistons’ top ten leaders in minutes played average out to 25 years old. This is ridiculous. With young talents like Killian Hayes, Beef Stew, Cade Cunningham, Saddiq Bey, and Frank Jackson it’s confusing why Dwane Casey is giving minutes to the older players.

Usually, you play older guys to win, but the Pistons aren’t doing that. They should build chemistry for the future and develop your players on the court. The record doesn’t matter, it’s going to be awful anyway. Play the young guys, figure out what the rotation in the coming years looks like, and draft the best player available with the high pick they’ll inevitably have to round out the roster.

This season will be grueling and painful for fans, so it might as well be productive in the long run.