Pistons new players and holdouts have no time to waste

The Detroit Pistons will have the advantage of continuity next season, but the new faces they do have will have to hit the ground running. 

The Pistons’ schedule was released yesterday and showed a brutal start to the season that includes nine of the first 15 games on the road and 11 of them against teams that should be good. 

The first four alone against the Celtics, Heat, 76ers and Knicks (three of which are on the road) will be an immediate test for the new-look Pistons, who didn’t make a splashy move, but do have new players in key positions that need to get off to a quick start. 

They’ll also need holdout Jalen Duren to not let the offseason drama linger into the regular season. 

John Collins and Isaiah Joe will need to find chemistry quickly 

The biggest change will be John Collins in the starting five instead of Tobias Harris, which is a swap that will take some adjustments. 

Harris was a guy you could throw the ball to and let him create his own shot, something that Collins does not do much of, so the Pistons will immediately lose their security blanket in the half court.

The good news is that Collins should be the beneficiary of plenty of open 3-point looks from the corner, a shot he hits at a high percentage, so hopefully he will start the season hot, and the adjustment period will be short. But the Pistons still lack creation outside of Cade Cunningham, so losing Harris does matter. 

Isaiah Joe is another guy who should benefit from Cunningham’s gravity, as he did with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in OKC. Cade and SGA aren’t the same exact player, but Joe has shown he knows how to find space and make himself available when his lead guard draws in defenders as Cade will. 

Joe’s ability to make shots should help offset the Pistons’ lack of creation, as teams will either have to play Cade straight up or risk an open 3-point shot. 

The Pistons’ biggest additions were role players, and they need both guys to slide into those roles right away to avoid a slow start. 

Jalen Duren can’t let the offseason linger 

Jalen Duren still isn’t signed, and we are now well into August, so he’s having a much different offseason than he did last year when he spent most of it working out with Cade Cunningham. 

We know Duren is getting in the work, but you do have to wonder how this drama has affected him mentally and whether it will follow him into the regular season. He’s had to see a lot of negativity around his name, which could be extra motivation, but it is concern that his offseason could lead to a slow start, which is something the Pistons can’t afford. 

Unlike a lot of teams in the Eastern Conference, the Pistons are not trying to work a new star into their rotation, but the role players they added need to produce, and Jalen Duren needs to come into the season with a positive mentality. 

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow