Heading into this year’s offseason, small forward is the Detroit Pistons’ greatest position of need. Isaiah Livers is the only lengthy, 3 and D wing on the roster. Detroit needs to find the wing of the future during this offseason or next if Weaver and company hope to maximize their salary cap situation before needing to pay Cade Cunningham.
Detroit Pistons: The most important position in the NBA?
Every championship contender since LeBron James became the face of the league has needed a long, athletic wing who could defend. On the one hand, teams needed someone who could defend James, who is a wing in the body of a post player. On the other hand, the NBA is a copycat league, as they say, which means that teams valued, perhaps at times overvalued, a dynamic wing who could defend and create offense, the prototype set by Dr. J, Magic, Jordan, Clyde the Glide, and redefined by James.
Tayshaun Prince was the long, athletic, defensive wing of the “Goin’ to Work” Era. Boston had Paul Pierce, Durant in OKC, Kawhi in San Antonio, Toronto, and LA, Jimmy Butler in Miami, Michael Porter Jr. in Denver, The Jays in Boston, and first Andre Iguodala and Harrison Barnes and now Andrew Wiggins in Golden State.
When you look around the league, Dallas, Portland, Atlanta, New York, and Cleveland have been missing this piece in recent years, and they were unable to get over the hump.
Jerami Grant could’ve been that piece in a healthy, reassembled Portland, and he could be that piece in Detroit again next year.
Whoever fills that hole in the roster, they need to (eventually) be able to defend elite wings on opposing teams, to get their own shot off the dribble, and to influence the pace of the game through rebounding and athleticism. All of the examples above helped their teams win by influencing the game in these ways.
The small forward might be the most valuable position in a positionless NBA. Now it’s time for the Detroit Pistons to find one.
It’s possible the Pistons will have theirs by the end of the day, depending on what happens in the NBA Draft, but if not, it will be the priority in free agency and future trades.