The Detroit Pistons have big decisions to make this summer, and they will be affected by the outcome of their first-round playoff series with the Knicks.
Detroit has proven that they don’t necessarily need to make a run at a star, as they already have one in Cade Cunningham and we can expect more improvement from his young teammates.
But they will have to make decisions about their own free agents, including Malik Beasley, Tim Hardaway Jr., and Dennis Schroder, all who showed their importance to the team in game one against the Knicks.
Regardless of what happens with their trio of veteran free agent guards, the Pistons have a glaring hole that is only going to get bigger after next season.
The Detroit Pistons need more size
Compared to some others around the league, the Detroit Pistons are not a big team, as they don’t have a real seven-footer in the rotation and use 6-foot-8 Isaiah Stewart as the backup center.
Detroit doesn’t even have a backup for Tobias Harris, so have been forced to use guys like Simone Fontecchio, Ausar Thompson and even Ron Holland II at the four at times, which is not ideal since none of them really have the size for it. This will be even more dire after next season, which is the final year of Harris' contract.
The lack of size showed up in game one when the Knicks were able to effectively use two bigs against the Pistons. The Knicks dominated the points in the paint, with Karl-Anthony Towns able to shoot over Tobias Harris and Mitchell Robinson able to grab three offensive rebounds, all of which he turned into points.
With Jalen Duren ineffective against the Knicks so far and Isaiah Stewart potentially out for the rest of the series, the Pistons are going to have their hands full with the Knicks’ bigs.
The Pistons need to find more size at the forward and even center spot this summer, as they need another guy who can defend big men and hold his own on the glass.
One free agent to keep an eye on is Naz Reid, who showed his value in the playoffs by dropping 23 points in game one against the Lakers on 6-of-9 shooting from long range.
And it’s not just the big-man spots where the Pistons need more size, as they could also use another tall player on the wing and their backup guard spots are also populated by players who are often giving up inches.
The problem will be exacerbated if Stewart is out for an extended period, but it’s been clear at various points this season that the Pistons need more size, something I expect Trajan Langdon to address in the offseason.