The trade the Pistons need may not be the one fans want

The Detroit Pistons flamed out in the playoffs after a successful season in which they progressed further than the year before, but that hasn’t stopped everyone from predicting big change in the offseason. 

And it may be coming, as the Pistons have eight players in contract purgatory and clearly need more consistent scoring after they ran out of buckets in the playoffs. We are already hearing every name from Kawhi to Giannis, and who knows, maybe Trajan Langdon will make a splashy move. 

But I wouldn’t count on it. 

Langdon stuck to his guns at the trade deadline, remaining patient and letting his team develop organically. When you look around the league at the teams most set up to contend sustainably (OKC, San Antonio. Boston) they were ones that were built from the draft, not big trades or free agent acquisitions. 

The Pistons were five wins away from the NBA Finals, so they aren’t miles away from contending and may not need the superstar move fans are hoping for, and if you watched the series against Cleveland, it makes sense. 

The Pistons need to consolidate for better talent 

I am already sick of hearing about Trey Murphy III and Lauri Markkanen, the same two names Pistons fans have kicked around since last season. 

The Pistons definitely need another scorer, but they don’t have to gut their roster to get one, and it doesn’t have to be a household name for that player to make a huge impact. 

One of the reasons the Pistons lost to the Cavs is that Cleveland had more impactful role players coming off the bench. I’d argue that if you had swapped Javonte Green for Max Strus, the Pistons would have won. 

If the Pistons had Sam Merrill, they might have won, so it’s not like they were a superstar away. 

The Pistons may need a major consolidation trade more than a trade for a star, taking guys like Caris LeVert, Kevin Huerter, Marcus Sasser, Javonte Green and maybe even Isaiah Stewart, and swapping them out for high quality role players. 

The Pistons used 11-12 players for most of the season, and it’s nice to have that kind of depth in the slog of the regular season, but in the playoffs, you need 8-9 guys who can play, not placeholders you hope don’t blow the game while your star is on the bench. 

After averaging over 41 points per game in the regular season, Detroit's bench averaged just 27 per game in the playoffs and it was much lower before their outburst in game six against Cleveland. You expect some drop off with the starters playing more, but that was more than the Pistons could cover.

I give JB Bickerstaff credit for making the most out of a rag-tag group of role players and finding ways to win with them, but the Pistons need better bench players, as most of them were exposed in the playoffs. 

That could mean making a trade for a starter and moving someone like Duncan Robinson to the bench, which would help, but the Pistons need more scoring coming off their bench one way or another and need to turn some of their fringe guys into a real 6th man or two. 

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