The Detroit Pistons are going to be a contender in the Eastern Conference this season. The continued growth of Cade Cunningham, the addition of Caris LeVert and Duncan Robinson, and the (painfully obvious) star leap coming from Ausar Thompson are all marginal improvements that will lead to substantial changes for the team at large. Things are looking up.
Really, there aren't many things that can sink the Pistons ship... but the one glaring (potential) problem that could let some water in is a lack of ball-handling and facilitating depth. First, the optimistic view: there's a world where Jaden Ivey comes back and looks better than he did before injury and fills the starting shooting guard spot, Marcus Sasser bounces back from a sophomore season that wasn't quite the leap people expected, and Caris LeVert plays connector in the second unit. It's not a stretch to think those things can all happen.
But the pessimistic view isn't too far-fetched, either; in this universe, Ivey takes some time to reacclimate, Sasser doesn't rebound and can't be relied on nightly, and Caris LeVert is more of a black hole than a facilitator. In that case, the Pistons backcourt would get a little shady, pretty quickly.
Let's hope for the optimistic outcome!
Backcourt production might be the Pistons X-factor
For such a young team, I feel pretty confident in what to expect from positions three through five on the Pistons roster. Ausar Thompson is going to be the elite defender he was and his offensive game will do nothing but expand as he gets older. Duncan Robinson will come off the bench and hit shots. Tobias Harris will be Tobias Harris (good and bad) and Ron Holland will be a bull in a china shop yet again. Jalen Duren and Isaiah Stewart will bring the energy and crash the boards.
But the spectrum of success will swing one way or the other based on how cohesive the backcourt — starters and backups alike — looks for JB Bickerstaff. If Sasser and Ivey struggle mightily, the Pistons are suddenly left with very little backcourt depth. Kevin Pelton of ESPN mentioned this recently, calling "sure ballhandling" the biggest hole on the Pistons roster:
"The Pistons ranked 21st in turnover rate last season, ahead of just two playoff teams (the LA Clippers and Memphis Grizzlies), then lost one of their most sure-handed ball handlers in Dennis Schroder, who had a 4.2 assist-to-turnover ratio with the Detroit Pistons. With Jaden Ivey penciled in as backup point guard, my SCHOENE projection system pegs the Pistons for the second-worst turnover rate."
Well if SCHOENE says so, just cancel the season. (I kid, of course, that stat is usually pretty solid in making predictions).
It's probably not good if any prediction model has a team second-worst in anything turnover related. That, of course, doesn't mean the Pistons are doomed or anything, but it does prove that Ivey, Sasser, LeVert (and even Cade, to an extent) are going to determine whether these Pistons are simply good or simply scary. Neither one is terrible. But if great is possible... Be great!