The Detroit Pistons tipped off their 2024-25 season with media day yesterday and there was plenty to talk about.
But first I’d like to start where the team started, which is by saying RIP to Dikembe Mutombo who died way too young. He was a favorite to watch back in the day, was always smiling and was as many have said, a global ambassador for the game. He’ll be missed.
Media day was mostly more of the same for the hapless Pistons, who gave the standard nods to “Detroit basketball” and how they are going to turn things around. What else did you expect? They were hardly going to say, “this is another placeholder team, so we hope to win just enough games to keep fans satisfied, but not so many that we lose our 2025 pick, but we’ll be good in three years!”
Aside from all the platitudes, there were some interesting things said at media day, so here are the six most important quotes. I gathered these from Omari Sankofa II, who is a must-follow for Pistons fans.
Most important quotes from Detroit Pistons media day
#1: "We’re supporting him as much as possible and just waiting for the resolution from the NBA and the PA. We’re excited and look forward to having Ausar back. This time I just can’t say any more to that as we’re just looking for a resolution to that process...He's allowed to do conditioning, strength training and non-contact drills."
Ut oh. This was in response to a question about Ausar Thompson and his blood clots and the Detroit Free Press later confirmed that Thompson will be out for the entirety of training camp.
Even if this is just cautionary, it has to concern the Pistons, as Thompson is probably their 2nd-most important prospect and a guy they are counting on heavily this season. The Pistons have been riddled with injuries the last several seasons, with at least one young player missing significant time every year.
This will be a massive worry until we see Ausar Thompson on the floor, which won’t likely be until the regular season.
#2: "It was hard for me to get a good amount of load running because it would flare up, my bones. This summer I didn’t have that, so it was nice to be able to work and push myself further than I have since high school."
This was Cade Cunningham talking about the shin issue that he had surgically repaired. This will now be his second season post-surgery and it sounds as if he is finally fully healthy.
Conditioning has certainly been an issue for Cade, whether it is leaving shots short late in games or not being able to go all out on defense.
Players are always the healthiest, strongest blah blah blah this time of year, so again, this is something we have to see on the court, but hopefully this will result in Cade Cunningham playing more than 64 games for the first time in his career.