New faces, same problem for the Detroit Pistons

The 2023-24 season for the Detroit Pistons was effectively over before it ever started. 

After winning two of their first three games and giving the fanbase some hope, the Pistons dropped 28 straight in an NBA record losing streak for a single season. 

The offseasons of the past five years have been dominated by two things: Which player the Pistons will take in the draft and which veterans they will try to add to complement their young core. 

From Jerami Grant, to the Plum Dog, to Bojan Bogdanovic and Alec Burks, the Pistons have tried to add veterans that would help their young core grow and gotten no results. 

One of the reasons is because many of these players were always hurt. During the losing streak last season we kept saying, “just wait until the veterans get back!,” and “just wait to see what this offense looks like with the spacing Bogdanovic brings!”  

Bogdanovic had to miss the first 19 games of the season, Alec Burks missed six early ones and by the time they came back the season was already over. 

If your team goes completely toes up without two mediocre veterans at the ends of their careers, then your team wasn’t very good to start with, but having a stabilizing veteran presence in the starting five is important to a young team. 

It’s far too early to say whether this is happening again, but given the team involved, I do have concerns about injuries already. 

Detroit Pistons injuries: Tobias Harris and Ausar Thompson 

Ausar Thompson still hasn’t been cleared after doctors discovered blood clots last season and this has to be a concern. 

How long is it going to be before we start saying things like, “Just wait until Ausar gets back!” as we try to rationalize our way into believing in the Pistons? 

Of less concern is Tobias Harris, who has missed both preseason games with an illness. On most teams, this wouldn’t be a concern, especially since Harris has rarely missed games in his career. 

But given this is the Pistons, who cannot afford injuries to any of their veterans, and are a team that has been less than straight forward about injuries in the past, count me as concerned until I see Harris on the floor. 

Hopefully, this is just a minor illness and he’ll be back soon, but we all thought the same about Bogdanovic last season, only to be told every two weeks that he would be re-evaluated again in two weeks. 

Again, I am not saying the same is going to happen with Harris, but it has to be a concern that he hasn’t played yet, especially when the Pistons are counting on his leadership and to play a big role in the offense. 

It won’t take much for the remaining players from last season to go into “here we go again” mode if there are early injuries or things go south, which is a distinct possibility with a tough early schedule. 

You might call me pessimistic, but this the 2024 Detroit Pistons we are talking about and I've been conditioned at this point to expect the worst until proven otherwise.