The Celtics have given the Detroit Pistons a blueprint for success

There was a time in NBA history when the Detroit Pistons and Boston Celtics ruled the Eastern Conference and were regularly battling each other in the playoffs.

It’s been a while since that was true, as the Pistons have been a decade-long free fall that has mostly keep them irrelevant in the East, while the Celtics have been up and down.

But the Celtics have built sustained success over the last few seasons, something the Detroit Pistons hope to emulate after finally getting some draft luck and landing Cade Cunningham with the first overall pick.

I still hate the Celtics with a passion (can’t believe I have to cheer for Golden State) but you have to admire the way they have built their team, a blueprint the Detroit Pistons hope to follow.

Here is how the Detroit Pistons can do it.

Detroit Pistons: Build your core through the NBA Draft

If you look at the Boston Celtics’ roster, you’ll see that they drafted  just about every one of their main contributors.

Four out of their five starters came from the draft in Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart and Robert Williams III and all but one of their main bench contributors were drafted by Boston.

The Celtics got the core of their team through the draft and then supplemented it with veteran free agents and trades.

Like Detroit, Boston is not considered an elite free-agent destination, so they need to land their stars in the draft and they have.

The Detroit Pistons are following that model, with three of their five starters coming from the draft. They also feature Killian Hayes and Isaiah Livers off the bench and hope to add another impact starter in the 2022 NBA Draft.

Next season, at least four of the five starters will be from the draft and it could be all five depending on what the Pistons do with Jerami Grant this offseason.