2. They Are All-In On Their Core
After the disappointment of the last couple seasons, many Pistons fans wanted the Pistons to tear it all down in the offseason and start a rebuild. The common complaints about the roster included “Reggie Jackson cannot stay healthy,” “Andre Drummond is not a max player and not good enough to get a team over the top, and “Blake Griffin is washed up and overpaid.”
While all of these sentiments could be true, it would not be fair to at least give this core a try before giving up on it. The Pistons only played 4 games last season with their “Big 3” all healthy. They went 3-1 in those games with the only loss being an overtime loss to the Houston Rockets, one of the best teams in the league. It is obviously a small sample size, but it was a glimpse into what this team can do with their core healthy and the proper pieces surrounding them.
The roster around their core is not perfect, but it is still solid and has a lot of players with pretty good complimentary skillsets. They have returners in Reggie Bullock and Luke Kennard. Bullock is one of the most underrated ‘3-and-D’ players in the league and Luke Kennard is a young wing with the potential to be one of the better shooters in the league. They added Glenn Robinson III, another solid ‘3-and-D’ wing with the size to either start at small forward or be one of the first guys off of the bench.
They added Jose Calderon, a veteran point guard who can be the 3rd point guard behind Reggie Jackson and Ish Smith. If things go south again and Reggie Jackson once again gets hurt, Calderon can step in and play and be a lot more reliable than the Pistons options last season of Dwight Buycks, Jameer Nelson, or Langston Galloway. They also added Zaza Pachulia, another solid veteran who sets great screens and plays solid defense. He is nothing special and likely towards the end of his career, but he is more proven than Eric Moreland and less situational than Boban Marjanovic was even though he was a fun player.
The Pistons have Jon Leuer returning, a solid backup big even though he may be a little overpaid. They also have their defensive stopper on the wing in Stanley Johnson who can matchup with some of the better wings in the league.
All of these role players are important, but the three most important players are all still on the team, which shows that this front office is at least committed to giving it a try even though most of these players were not brought in by them.
Next Up: Takeaway 1
