The Detroit Pistons must improve this summer, on that, everyone can agree.
Beyond that, you’ll find plenty of debate on how they should do it, from continuing to develop young players, to trading the draft pick, to trading anyone not named Cade Cunningham to spending all of their available cap space on free agents.
Many Pistons fans looked at Houston this year and wondered why that wasn’t us, the team that added impact veteran talent last season and made a big leap in the standings.
Detroit elected to do nothing last offseason, not an option they enjoy in this one, but will they go the Houston route and load up on the best possible free agents this summer? According to Mike Scotto of HoopsHype, don’t count on it.
In a recent podcast with Pistons beat writer James Edwards III, Scotto revealed what he’s heard about the Pistons’ plans this summer:
"From what I’ve heard, plan A is not to go the Houston route and spend all the cap space money they have in free agency...There’s a possibility Detroit will look to sign a free agent like Tobias Harris or Miles Bridges, two guys that will certainly be on their radar heading into the offseason, and then use the remaining cap space to potentially acquire a player in a trade."
Signing a free agent like Tobias Harris or Miles Bridges would be “going the Houston route” to a degree, but otherwise, I agree with Scotto here.
The Detroit Pistons in free agency
Unlike last offseason, there just aren’t impact free agents at the top of the pile. Tobias Harris is a nice player, but if the Pistons max him this summer (which JEIII doesn’t think will happen), that in itself won’t be nearly enough to fix this mess, it will just be Bojan Bogdanovic 2.0. a veteran brought in on the downside of his career to take on a bigger role than he should probably have.
Harris makes sense, but only if the money is right and the Detroit Pistons make other significant moves around him, so the “Houston route” isn’t going to work for a team that is more than just two veterans away from being competitive.
The Pistons need to explore every option this summer, but don’t count on free agency being the thing that saves them.