The Detroit Pistons have several big questions hanging over them as the offseason inches closer to training camp.
There are several positional battles that have to be settled, and Monty Williams has a lot of decisions to make about how he will deploy his rotation.
Even more questions presented themselves after the release of the Pistons’ schedule, which has a few quirks that will present challenges to the young team and their new coach.
Here’s what the Detroit Pistons are up against in the 2023-24 season.
Detroit Pistons’ Schedule: How will the back-to-backs affect Cade Cunningham?
The Pistons’ schedule includes 15 back-to-backs, most for any team in the NBA. Theoretically, this shouldn’t be a big issue for a team with so many young players who don’t have a ton of mileage on their legs.
But Cade Cunningham is returning from an injury, and though he looks healthy and ready to go, you have to wonder if the Pistons are going to be cautious with their franchise star, especially early in the season.
Playing with the Select Team that scrimmaged against Team USA should help (Cade was reportedly dominant) as Cunningham had a chance to get some competitive games in as a test for his surgically-repaired shin.
But this isn’t all about Cunningham, as the Pistons led the NBA in games missed to injury last season, so staying healthy will be one of the keys to them climbing out of the cellar. Monty Williams is going to have to manage his roster, play around these back-to-back games and try to ensure his team stays healthy, even if it means staggering rest days for some of the veterans and not pushing Cunningham too hard initially.
What are the easiest/most difficult months on the Detroit Pistons’ schedule?
T.S. Eliot started his epic poem “The Waste Land” with the line “April is the cruelest month…” but for the Detroit Pistons, that month will be November. Detroit starts out in October with winnable games against the Hornets, Bulls and Thunder after opening against the Heat.
But November takes a sharp turn and it will be hard for the Pistons to find a win past the 1st of the month, when they play the Trail Blazers at home. There are some winnable games against the Bulls, Hawks, Raptors, Pacers and Wizards, but the rest of the month is brutal.
Detroit will take on the Pelicans, Suns, Warriors (a back-to-back), Bucks, 76ers, Cavaliers, Nuggets, Lakers and Knicks in their remaining games in November. The Wizards and Bulls are the worst teams they will play and Detroit was 0-7 against them last season.
In other words, the 2023-24 could get ugly quickly if the Detroit Pistons get off to a slow start.
The Pistons have to make up ground in January
The easiest month on the schedule (obviously things could be vastly different next season) should be January, where the Detroit Pistons have a slate of winnable games against the Rockets (x2), Jazz, Spurs, Wizards (x2), Hornets and Thunder mixed in with the. Warriors, Nuggets and Bucks (x2).
None of these games are gimmes of course, but at least Detroit will have a chance to rack up some wins against teams that should be near them in the standings.
Which stretch of the Detroit Pistons’ schedule will test the team’s character?
There are a couple of weeks of the schedule that are going to show what this young team is made of.
The first is a stretch from February 7th-22nd where the Pistons will have consecutive road games against the Kings, Blazers, Clippers, Lakers, Suns (back-to-back) and Pacers.
The west coast road trips are always difficult for players (and fans) trying to adjust to time zones and travel and having them play the Lakers and Suns on back-to-back nights seems especially cruel, as it is towards the end of the trip when legs will start to get heavy.
Detroit hopes to be competing for a play-in spot, and if they are close, the home stretch in April is going to be the final test.
The Pistons will play nine of their last 11 games on the road, including two back-to-backs, so if they are going to make the play-in, they are going to have to earn it. These kinds of stretches offer a chance to bond and grow as a team, but they will be a test of the chemistry, so Monty Williams will need to have them ready and have a plan for how to endure these parts of the schedule.
When could the Detroit Pistons go on a run?
The Detroit Pistons never really built any positive momentum last season. Unlike some of the other young teams, Detroit never had a winning streak, or a run when things were going well, which is how you end up winning 17 games.
Regardless of where they end up in the standings, it would be nice to see this team have a few winning streaks and nice stretches where they look like a playoff team, if not of the present, then of the near future.
At the end of January, the Pistons have consecutive home games against the Hornets, Wizards and Thunder which should provide some amount of relief after the brutal stretch that comes before it.
Again, these games aren’t gimmes by any means, but this is part of a six-game homestand that begins against the Timberwolves and two against the Bucks. Detroit should have a chance to get comfortable at home and maybe string together some wins to close out a difficult month, carrying that momentum into February.