The Detroit Pistons are looking to next season to be the one where they finally climb the NBA ladder and compete in the Eastern Conference.
New head coach Monty Williams will be experimenting with lineups and rotations, trying to find a group with the chemistry to help push this franchise to the next level.
The league will also be experimenting next season, as the NBA will have its first In-Season Tournament, regular season games in which teams will compete for the NBA Cup.
Fans haven’t been overly enthusiastic about the idea, as there is really nothing at stake except some bonus money for the team that wins. But if you want to be optimistic, it will give teams like the Detroit Pistons (who are long shots to make the playoffs) something else to play for and a chance to build some momentum around their young roster.
Yesterday, the league released in In-Season Tournament portion of the schedule so we can get an idea of what the Detroit Pistons are up against.
Detroit Pistons NBA In-Season Tournament schedule
The NBA In-Season Tournament will start with a group stage in November. The Pistons are in East Group A, which also includes Philadelphia, Atlanta, Cleveland and Indiana.
After the group stage, the tournament will turn into a knockout with the quarterfinals, semi-finals and finals all taking place in December. The championship game will be played on December 9th.
The Detroit Pistons will have four games, none of which will be nationally televised.
- 11/10 vs. 76ers: 7:00 PM ET
- 11/14 vs. Hawks: 7:00 PM ET
- 11/17 @ Cleveland: 7:30 PM ET
- 11/24 @ Indiana: 8:00 PM ET
As the worst team in the NBA last season, Detroit will obviously be the underdog of the group, as all of the other teams in East Group A at least made the play-in, or in Indiana’s case, were just out of it.
So Detroit will look to play spoiler and get a couple of wins. If they could at least make it out of the group stage into the knockout, it will give Pistons fans something to be excited about in November other than the return of Cade Cunningham.