Detroit Pistons: Revisiting preseason questions with James Edwards III

What is the next step in the Detroit Pistons’ restoration?

James answer then:

"“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.”"

The reality:

James really hit the nail on the head with this one, as this has been the biggest issue hanging over this season. Jerami Grant managed to stay in Detroit at the trade deadline, which is somewhat of a surprise, but his future is still far from secure.

The Pistons already cut bait on Josh Jackson and Trey Lyles and I’d say a few more of the veterans will be jettisoned in the offseason.

The good news is that Saddiq Bey has established himself as a second piece and Cade Cunningham looks like a star, so the Pistons have identified some core pieces, but there is still a lot of work to do in this area.

What is the Detroit Pistons’ ceiling this year?

"“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.”"

The reality:

I agreed with James in his assessment of the Pistons’ ceiling. If every single thing bounced right for them in terms of injury and development, I think they could have sniffed the play-in tournament.

Those things didn’t happen, as the Pistons lost Cunningham, then Grant and Kelly Olynyk and have gotten inconsistent development from Killian Hayes and Isaiah Stewart.

As far as preseason predictions go, these were pretty accurate, and James Edwards III was able to touch upon many of the issues that are still troubling this team.