4 Hot takes about the upcoming Detroit Pistons season

We are now over halfway through the NBA dead period, and have the upcoming season’s schedule. Additionally, the Detroit Pistons' roster is all but finalized, with just one final roster spot up for grabs. While I do think they will utilize this, hopefully with someone like Markelle Fultz or Isaac Okoro, let’s look into the upcoming season and put out some hot takes for the year. We can revisit these once the season completes and see just how right, or more likely wrong, we were. 

1. Cade Cunningham makes his first All-Star team

Is this a hot take? I feel like most people who follow not just Detroit, but the NBA as a whole is expecting big things out of Cade next season. He was a borderline elite player last season with a horrendous roster surrounding him. It’s because of the lack of talent he was playing with that led to inefficiency issues that some NBA-heads will point to. Those will be no more this year as he now has proper spacing, scoring, and veteran leadership around him. 

Cade averaged 22.7 points, 4.3 rebounds, 7.5 assists, 1.3 stocks and shot 35 percent from three last season. Over the last two months of the season, however, his perimeter shooting rose to almost 38 percent. With the roster that will be put around the fourth year point guard, it’s reasonable to expect Cade to finish this upcoming season averaging 25, 4, and 9 on 38 percent shooting from deep.

If Detroit can make even a little bit of noise, these numbers, plus the good ol' eye test, should be enough for Cade to sneak into his first, hopefully of many, All-Star games. 

2. Jaden Ivey shoots below 34 percent from three, bringing questions to his long term value here

Technically speaking, in this hot take, 34 percent would be an increase for Jaden Ivey from three-point range from last year, as he shot 33.6 percent from deep. It’s hard to predict what exactly Ivey’s numbers from deep will be, thanks to his wild inconsistencies. He shot 54 percent from three between January and February last year, but then also shot just 28 percent to finish out the season. 

Detroit did what they needed to do this offseason by bringing in veteran sharpshooters for Ivey to watch and learn from, as well as hiring three-point shooting guru, assistant coach Fred Vinson. We’ve covered Vinson ad nauseam but his presence cannot be overstated. With that being said, I’ve never truly bought Jaden Ivey’s shot, both his form and shooting instincts, and I don’t think Vinson can get him to where he needs to be.

Even with this tiny uptick in shooting success, Ivey’s long term value here in Detroit will be in question because in order for him to be what the Pistons need, his shooting has to be, say, 37 percent at least.