Despite all of their injuries, the Detroit Pistons have gotten out to a 16-4 start that has forced the pundits to recalibrate their predictions.
Man of the national outlets actually picked the Pistons to take a small step back or spin their wheels this season, citing the loss of key veterans Malik Beasley, Tim Hardaway Jr., and Dennis Schroder as the main reason.
This was the case with Bleacher Report, which predicted the Pistons would win 45 games, one more than they won last season. In a recent article, they bumped that up by eight wins to 53, a big leap that would have made the Pistons the 3-seed last season.
It would be a huge step for the Pistons to win 50+ games, and they still have a long way to go, but there are positive signs that the new predictions will be right.
Detroit Pistons: Injuries, progress and the second star
The amazing thing about Detroit’s red-hot start is that they’ve done it with an ever-changing carousel of injuries.
Detroit has had nine different players spend time on the injury list, and that will go up to 10 tonight if Duncan Robinson can’t go.
The Pistons continued to win even without Cade Cunningham, and they’ve gotten contributions of some kind from just about everyone who has stepped on the floor.
With Jaden Ivey back, the Pistons are inching closer to being fully healthy, which should worry the Eastern Conference, as Detroit has been running through a lot of these teams with guys who weren’t expected to play big roles.
There have been some bumps, especially offensively, but the good news is that the Pistons have been winning anyway and should get more flow to the offense once everyone is back (if that ever happens), and they actually get some time to play together.
We’ve not seen the best of this offense by a long shot, as Jaden Ivey has barely played and is still trying to shake off the rust after not having played for nearly a year.
Ron Holland has yet to get going, Caris LeVert hasn’t been able to get into a rhythm with all of the minor injuries, and Tobias Harris has only recently been himself again.
There is another level to the Pistons’ offense that can be unlocked by guys getting healthy, into a rhythm and put in more defined roles, an issue that has affected Holland at times.
A 50+ win season and home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs is there for taking for the Pistons, they just need a full rotation and for guys to be better versions of themselves.
If the internal options don’t pop, the Pistons have the means to make moves, so we’ve not seen the best of this team yet.