3 Scenarios the Pistons desparately need to avoid in 2024-25
The last five seasons for the Detroit Pistons followed a familiar pattern that resulted in them at or near the bottom of the standings, something they hope to avoid this season.
But this roster also has the look of a placeholder team, one that is not in its final form and one that could go through major changes yet again even if things do work out.
Trajan Langdon has a tough job balancing the impatience of fans who want to see a winning team and trying to build it the right way without taking shortcuts that could make things even worse.
Ideally, the Pistons would be a competitive team this season while getting clear strides from their young players. They’d emerge from this season with at least one All-Star and maybe a few more on the way, and head into the offseason looking to build a winning team instead of worrying about draft position.
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A whole lot is going to have to right for this to happen and there are three scenarios they will need to avoid for it to come to fruition and for fans to finally have something to be excited about.
The Pistons have to avoid early injuries
Injuries have already ravaged the NBA before the season has even started and the Pistons are no exception.
They are missing Tobias Harris with an illness, Bobi Klintman with a calf contusion and Ausar Thompson still hasn’t been cleared by the league after suffering blood clots last season.
The Pistons entered the last two seasons in a similar position with at least one key player out with injury, leading us to wonder how things might have gone had they been a full strength.
It’s not as if Bojan Bogdanovic and Alec Burks were going to turn the Pistons into a contender, but without them, the young team went into a death spiral and the season was essentially over before people were carving their Thanksgiving turkeys.
With new faces to integrate and a tough early schedule, the Pistons can’t afford to be missing anyone, especially two players marked for the starting lineup.
Harris has missed both preseason games with an illness, which doesn’t sound like something that will keep him out for any length of time, but I’ve heard that tune before.
The Pistons are operating on razor-thin margins when it comes to being competitive this season, and can’t afford lengthy injuries, especially early in the season or we are going to get a repeat of the last five years.