When asked about the revamped Eastern Conference, Detroit Pistons' head coach JB Bickerstaff gave a direct answer that his team should love, saying "“We don’t really give a **** about what everybody else is doing.”
The Pistons' offseason has been dominated by two narratives, the fist being their ongoing contract standoff with Jalen Duren, which is now mercifully entering its final hours.
The second has been how the rest of the Eastern Conference improved and the Pistons didn't do enough to keep up even though they won 60 games last season and narrowly missed the Eastern Conference Finals.
Teams like the 76ers, Raptors, Heat, Pacers and Hawks were the darlings of the offseason, making splashy moves to obtain stars or in the case of Indiana, getting one back from injury.
The Pistons have been given poor offseason grades by just about everyone, mostly due to their inaction, though they undoubtedly improved their shooting with the additions of John Collins, Isaiah Joe and Taurean Prince.
Coach JB Bickerstaff makes a good point here, as the Pistons should be confident in what they can achieve even though their offseason has been filled with negative distractions.
The Pistons have to ignore the outside noise
I can only speak for myself here, but this offseason has not gone as expected for the Detroit Pistons. I was hoping for early contracts for Duren and Ausar Thompson, and for the team to head into training camp focused on winning a title.
The Thompson deal was painless enough, but Duren's absence from media day and now training camp is going to start to seem real when his teammates are practicing and he's not there.
The only thing they can do is get on with it, as Duren will eventually be in camp, but the Pistons have to move on without him.
Same with the talk about the rest of the East, as just like the Duren situation, this is out of the Pistons' control, and until we see the results on the court, the splashy offseason additions made by their competition are just names on paper.
The Pistons are still one of the teams to beat in the East
Detroit wasn't picked to win the East last season either and we know how that turned out. Detroit overwhelmed teams full of stars with defense and depth, two things they will still have next season.
They also have Cade Cunningham, arguably the best player in the conference, and this time he'll be surrounded by players who can actually shoot, which opens up possibilities that haven't existed for most of his career.
This offseason has been a mess in some ways, but the Pistons addressed a major need and have no reason to think they won't be just as good if not better next season as long as they can find a resolution to the Duren saga.
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