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Roadblocks the Pistons must overcome to be competitive this season

By Aaron Kellerstrass

Jan 30, 2023; Dallas, Texas, USA; Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic (77) looks to passes the ball over Detroit Pistons guard Jaden Ivey (23) and center Jalen Duren (0) during the first quarter at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 30, 2023; Dallas, Texas, USA; Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic (77) looks to passes the ball over Detroit Pistons guard Jaden Ivey (23) and center Jalen Duren (0) during the first quarter at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports /
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Detroit Pistons, Jaden Ivey
Detroit Pistons guard Jaden Ivey (23) defends Orlando Magic forward Paolo Banchero (5) Credit: Mike Watters-USA TODAY Sports /

The other young teams

The Detroit Pistons had a mid offseason and are counting on the return of Cade Cunningham to soothe a lot of their ills.

They may have improved somewhat on paper, but so did just about every other team in the Eastern Conference, including the ones that will be in direct competition with Detroit.

Teams in Charlotte, Orlando, Washington and Indiana are all hoping to make leaps this season themselves and are in just as good a position to do it. All of these teams will be incorporating talented young players from the draft as well as new guys acquired in free agency and trades.

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You could argue that Detroit did the least of any of these teams (other than Washington) to improve this offseason, so before Detroit can be competitive against the actual playoff and play-in teams in the East, they first need to prove that they can compete against the other up and coming young squads.

The Pistons were 6-9 against the other non-playoff teams last season, so they will need to improve upon that if they want to overtake a few of them in the standings.

Even if the Detroit Pistons can leapfrog these four teams, which is unlikely, they would still have to supplant one of the play-in teams that include the Miami Heat, Chicago Bulls, Toronto Raptors and Atlanta Hawks. The Pistons were 1-14 against this group last season, so they have plenty of work to do if they even want to sniff the play-in tournament.

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