Roadblocks the Pistons must overcome to be competitive this season

Lack of development from their young players

The Detroit Pistons did add two more veterans who should help their young roster develop this season. As Monty Williams said, you aren’t doing these young guys any favors by playing too many of them at once, which is the primary reason given for putting Jaden Ivey on the bench.

Coach Williams is correct here, but it’s also fair to say that the Pistons are only going to go as far as their young stars take them.

We assume linear development with young players, which isn’t always fair and doesn’t always happen. You can’t just pencil in development, as guys regress, and most players aren’t who they are going to be until they hit age 25 or so. Detroit is counting on a lot of players who are 22-years-old or younger as part of their plan to compete this season.

Counting on young players has never been a recipe for success, which is why Troy Weaver said that success would really just mean being competitive for 82 games.

They’ll at least need mini-leaps from Jaden Ivey and Jalen Duren for that to happen and will need Cade Cunningham to stay healthy for the whole season.

The bar for success may be low for the Detroit Pistons this season, but there are still big challenges ahead if they want to clear it.