Cade Cunningham and the Detroit Pistons had a successful season depending on how you look at it.
They certainly weren’t a success in the win column, but their young players made strides, their prized rookie started morphing into a star and the Pistons showed signs of a bright future.
They are entering one of their most important offseasons in years and will go into next season with stability, an unquestioned leader in Cade Cunningham and hopefully some more talent around him.
This season was more about development than wins and Dwane Casey did an admirable job of getting his players to buy in and improve even though they were losing. It started to pay off after the All-Star break, when Cade Cunningham played his best basketball of the season and the Pistons won a few games.
Here are the season grades for the fringe, the bench and the starters for the Detroit Pistons.
Detroit Pistons: Player grades
The Fringe
All of these players were in and out of the rotation, with most of them spending significant time in the G-League. There may not be a keeper in this group and the deep bench is one area where the Pistons can probably find some upgrades for next season.
Carsen Edwards: Incomplete
Edwards only played four games for the Detroit Pistons, who have a team option on him for next season. He will be competing with Saben Lee for this spot next season and it’s also a distinct possibility that neither of them are on the roster.
Jamorko Pickett: C
Pickett only got 13 games with the Pistons but is an interesting prospect. He missed most of the season with injury or we might have seen more of him. He’s on a two-way for next season and might be able to carve out a small role as a 3-and-D guy off the bench depending on Detroit’s other moves. My guess is that he is a G-League player on the fringe again.
Braxton Key: B
I thought Key showed a solid game in his short time with Detroit. He only played nine games but showed himself to be an active rebounder who hustles and can knock down the occasional three-pointer. I think he’s a long shot to be in the rotation next season but he did enough to earn a two-way contract and will get a chance to compete for a deep bench role.
Rodney McGruder: A
McGruder came in a produced every time he was asked to, often after extended inactivity, never complained, even after the team tried to trade him twice and was a professional all season. He did exactly what you want from a deep bench veteran by setting a positive example and showing the young guys how to stay prepared. Cheers, Rodney and good luck.
Luka Garza: C
Garza played 32 games with the Pistons this season, more than I expected, so his season was not a failure by any means. Everyone knew about his limitations on defense, so I don’t think that was a surprise, but Garza shot just 32 percent from long range, which was disappointing. His main skill as a big is long-range shooting, and he’ll have to do better than that to stay in an NBA rotation. I love Garza’s work ethic and attitude, so I wouldn’t rule it out.
Saben Lee: D
In a season all about development, we didn’t see much from Saben Lee, who dominated in the G-League, but didn’t do much with the Detroit Pistons. He put up nearly identical stats, but on worse shooting splits and actually played fewer games with Detroit this season than he did as a rookie. Many thought he would claim the third point guard role this season but he was never really close to taking minutes from anyone.