The Detroit Pistons went from a 14-win team to one fighting for a playoff spot in just one season, and they did it without adding a star.
Tobias Harris, Malik Beasley and Tim Hardaway Jr. have been great for Detroit and a big part of their unlikely success, but none of them are considered stars and didn’t cost the Pistons much in the form of trade assets or long-term money.
Managing the payroll will be even more crucial in the Apron Era and there are plenty of teams around the league showing that quality depth is just as important as star power.
The narrative around Detroit early in the season was that they needed another bonafied star to put next to Cade Cunningham, but given their success, and the fact that they have done most of it without Jaden Ivey, that narrative has started to change.
And recent history shows us that you don’t need to make a superstar splash to win a title, and if you are going to swing for a star, it had better be the right one.
Championship teams are built through the NBA Draft
Fans love to argue team building and there are many different approaches that have yielded titles, but everyone agrees that nailing the draft is crucial and as tax penalties become more punitive, it will be even more so in the future.
The Warriors built their dynasty through the draft, as did the Celtics and Nuggets. They did augment their teams with stars (Kevin Durant, Jrue Holiday) but didn’t trade the farm to do it and found the right guys without disrupting their core.
The OKC Thunder have resisted the urge to use their largesse of trade assets to break up their team, instead adding quality role players in the summer that are now helping them to the top spot in the Western Conference behind their quality depth.
The Houston Rockets are in the same category as the 5th seed who is winning mostly with guys they drafted along with Fred VanVleet, who was the right veteran for their roster and came as a free agent, so didn’t cost them any of their young core.
The Cleveland Cavaliers got the right star in Donovan Mitchell, but they too are winning with a roster littered with their own draft picks.
You will always have teams like the Knicks and Lakers who succeed by hunting stars, but you don’t have to, and it can easily backfire as we’ve seen this season.
The Suns, 76ers and others are cautionary tales
You can win by drafting stars and building, and you can win by taking shortcuts like the Lakers always do, but one thing you can’t do in the Apron Era is swing for the wrong star.
Ask the76ers, who are now a cautionary tale to the rest of the league after adding Paul George last summer. Betting big on two guys on the wrong side of 30 is a recipe for disaster.
The Suns took swings for big names, cashing out all of their future assets in the process, and are now on the fringes of the play-in with no realistic path to improving in the summer that doesn't involve trading one of their stars.
The Clippers have overachieved given the injuries they’ve had, and are locked into this star-laden but always hurt roster for at least another season, with Kawhi Leonard on the books for $50 million the season after that.
The Nets have misfired on stars, and you can argue whether any of the trades the Minnesota Timberwolves made over the last few offseasons made them any better. They tried to fast-track things with the Gobert trade with some success, but it’s now clear they should have built around Anthony Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns instead.
If you are going to sell out your future for a superstar player, you need to nail it or things can go downhill quickly.
The Detroit Pistons offseason
That leads us to the Pistons, who are in a tricky position.
They are winning with their young core, none of whom have yet reached their peak, so it will be risky for them to trade one or more of them now to land another star player. The idea of getting Devin Booker is appealing, but it will cost the Pistons a lot of young talent, depth and draft picks to make such a move and it may not be worth it.
If the Pistons do decide to fast track things and swing for a star, it has to work, or they could be stuck in payroll hell with some of these other teams who now regret their choices.
Detroit may be smarter to follow the blueprint OKC has laid out, building around young stars and tinkering around the edges instead of going for the big name.
Quality depth and value for money are going to be the mantras of the NBA moving forward, so the Pistons have to be savvy about when, if and how they make a big move.