The Detroit Pistons' season came to a brutal close courtesy of a nightmare performance against the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 7, forcing the team to have their championship dreams get shattered in front of their home fans.
Detroit entered the postseason with high hopes and a prime opportunity to prove their critics wrong.
Instead, the Pistons' playoff struggles led to a disappointing second-round exit and one clear message that team president Trajan Langdon can't afford to ignore walking into the offseason.
Pistons aren't as close as they thought
Obviously, after losing in the first round one year ago, securing the top seed in the East this season and advancing to the Eastern Conference Semifinals is a step in the right direction.
Considering the fashion in which the season ended, though, it's hard to walk away from this season labeling the last few months as a win; in reality, there aren't many positives to take away from this year besides the fact that Cade Cunningham is indeed an MVP-caliber player.
Besides that, Jalen Duren managed to play his way out of a max extension with a disastrous postseason, Ausar Thompson still looks like a one-dimensional player, Tobias Harris may have made it impossible for Detroit to bring him back on a team-friendly deal, and every move Langdon and the front office made to get the team over the hump didn't work.
All that to say, if there's one thing Detroit's Game 7 nightmare offered, it's a wake-up call to the front office that this team isn't close and they have to make moves this offseason if they ever hope to return to the promised land.
Detroit needs to be aggressive to improve their roster
There's plenty of takeaways from the postseason for J.B. Bickerstaff's squad, but arguably the most obvious takeaway is the fact that Cunningham doesn't have a viable running mate.
Detroit failed to give their star a reliable second option to help relieve the pressure, and now that the team knows Duren can't fill those shoes, they have to enter the offseason making it a priority to find an option that can take the offensive burden off their star guard.
Not to mention, outside of providing Cunningham with a legit second option, the team has to find a way to improve their bench to the point that even if they're not the most talented, they'll be more reliable than they were this season.
In the midst of solving those answers, Langdon and the Pistons have to find a resolution to the looming Duren contract decision.
Regardless of what the team does, it's clear that they're not close to returning to the NBA Finals soon with this current roster, and running it back simply is not an option.
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