5 Things I already like about the new look Detroit Pistons
The Detroit Pistons debuted some of their new roster last night in a competitive loss to the LA Clippers.
It was still a loss, but the Pistons put forth a solid effort with a revamped team featuring three new players (there are still three more to come) who had never played together before.
The Pistons dominated the middle of the game and took a 13-point lead. It took a cold 4th quarter from the Pistons and some help from the referees for one of the best teams in the Western Conference to eke out a win over Detroit. I'm marking that as progress.
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*Side rant: The NBA needs to take a hard look at how games are officiated when it comes to veteran star players vs. younger guys. It's always been this way to a degree. Stars are going to get calls and older players have more established reputations and relationships with the refs, so it's human nature. But when one team has 26 free throws and the other has seven, something is not right, especially when the team with fewer free throws spent a lot of time in the paint drawing contact. The Pistons were at the rim all night, outscoring the Clippers 68 to 34 in the paint and there was a LOT of uncalled contact, while LA went foul hunting in the 4th and repeatedly got to the line. The Pistons missed a lot of open shots in the 4th and made some bad turnovers but this game was lost at the line. Rant over.
Even though they lost, I already liked a lot of what I saw from the Detroit Pistons in the first game after their roster reset.
Things I liked about the new Detroit Pistons
Simone Fontecchio
Fontecchio dropped 20 points and nine rebounds in his Pistons debut, showing he can do more than just catch and shoot in the process. His quickness and length on defense was a noticeable change and his offensive game is more dynamic than people might think. As he gets more familiar with his teammates, he's going to be a weapon.
If he can give the Pistons a good chunk of Bojan Bogdanovic's offense while providing much better defense, then this will be a net gain for Detroit.