The Pistons have spent the offseason retooling to replace veteran departures in free agency. They have kept their young core intact and opted to take a patient approach to team-building. But the Pistons have done a nice job of building up a deep team with a common identity, which has been proven to be a championship formula. Now they just need a proper second star to complement Cade Cunningham.
Detroit Pistons: Brimming with Depth
Despite their losses in the beginning of free agency and a bombshell regarding Malik Beasley’s status, the Pistons front office rebounded nicely to grab new veteran role players. It’s important for the team to effectively supply role players who can support the young core, which will ultimately drive how far the team goes.
Going into next season, the role player ranks for the Pistons are deeper and more complete than they were last season. New additions Caris LeVert and Duncan Robinson don’t just have the high-end skills to replace the contributions of the outgoing Dennis Schroder and Tim Hardaway Jr, but they also have more complete games.
The Pistons’ newcomers have more size, which helps a lot on defense. Having a deep roster with less defensive weak points that opponents can pick on will be key to success in this modern era. In the playoffs especially, this can bog down opposing offenses that would otherwise try to get their best player in isolation against a weak defender.
But the Pacers and Thunder showed what can happen when those weaknesses don’t exist or are effectively hidden on a team. Both found clear playoff success and were able to tire out other teams through their oncoming waves of capable players who could contribute on both ends. Many teams shrink their rotations in the playoffs, but those teams showed that having many trustworthy players can be its own advantage.
Are the Pistons still missing a second star?
But depth wasn’t the only driving force of last year’s Finals teams. Both also had a pair of All-Star talents, and the second stars (Jalen Williams and Pascal Siakam) were crucial throughout the playoffs. When the defenses fully collapsed on their star point guards, both teams could rely on their second star to create quality offense and get tough buckets.
The Pistons were very clearly missing this element in their playoff series loss. Cade Cunningham had a solid postseason debut but was bogged down by relentless pressure from the Knicks. A second star is needed to free up Cade and create offense when he’s off the floor.
The Pistons are of course hoping that their second star is already on the roster. Jaden Ivey missed most of last season with an injury but was showing promise of being an elite scorer, inching ever closer to the 20 ppg mark, in his 30 games played. If he can blossom into a true All-Star worthy player the Pistons may already have all the elements to compete for a title.