How the Detroit Pistons can shock everyone next season

A (Substantial) Leap from the Young Players

Another discouraging aspect of the past season was the little progression shown in members of the young core such as Jaden Ivey and Jalen Duren. They were not necessarily "negatives" to the team, however, they just didn't show a good second-year leap that you would have hoped for in such high draft picks.

Jaden Ivey started off the season with a presumable disagreement with newly hired coach Monty Williams, where Ivey was benched for a good portion of the beginning of the season, which didn't help his case. However, when finally given opportunity, Ivey didn't look like a much different player from the season prior. His decision making was slightly improved, but the Purdue standout still averaged 2.5 turnovers per game and only 3.8 assists. His shot wasn't there either, as he only shot at around a 34 percent clip from long range, similar to his rookie year.

In the frontcourt, Jalen Duren started off the season hot, but quickly settled down. The sophomore saw an improvement in scoring and rebounding, but the defense was abismal. As a 6-foot-10 center, Duren is going to have to improve in that end of the floor in order to see significant minutes moving forward. Although still only 20 years-old, Duren shows a lack in footwork when posted up and just doesn't add the pressure to the paint you would want.

The optimism in this disappointing factor of last season falls in the fact that these players are very young, and now seem to have a front office that is focused on player development. As said above, adding a coach like Fred Vinson will help fix the shooting issue that players like Ivey and Ausar Thompson have, which if fixed, inevitably leads to positive player progression. Langdon also mentioned in the introductory press conference for new head coach J.B. Bickerstaff that in his hiring, coaches that have shown a knack for developing young players stood out, which tells that progression is a major focus this upcoming season. On paper the new additions to improve this aspect of the team sounds great, but for this season to be considered a win, the young players will actually have to show a substantial leap.