Detroit Pistons: Did ESPN get the starting lineup right?

Options for the Detroit Pistons starting lineup

The most common starting lineup you will see is probably this one:

• Cade Cunningham
• Jaden Ivey
• Bojan Bogdanovic
• Isaiah Stewart
• Jalen Duren

The Stewart extension has a lot to do with this, and it’s also possible that the Pistons will prefer to bring rookie Ausar Thompson off the bench initially. Troy Weaver has talked a lot about playing big, and this lineup is big. There’s every reason to believe it can work as long as Stewart can shoot like he did early last season before a slump and injury wrecked his numbers, and as long as he can hold his own on the perimeter defensively.

I wouldn’t be surprised if this is the starting lineup on opening night next season, but also won’t be surprised when Monty Williams changes things up.

We often focus on starting lineups too much, as they are only on the floor together at the start of each half and after that it’s a combination of different guys. Starting lineups matter of course, but so do closing lineups and the two are not always the same.

This is also a team with a lot of young players battling for minutes, so even though Williams won’t be beholden to player development as much as Casey was, there are still a lot of options and potential combinations to try out and I’m sure we’ll see guys in and out of the rotation at various points in the season.