Eastern Conference Melee! The strongest dark horse! Are the Pistons a miracle or a fantasy?

Last season, the Pistons ranked sixth in the Eastern Conference. After an offseason, the Celtics lost forward Tatum, the Pacers lost guard Haliburton, and the Bucks waived guard Lillard. The three teams ranked ahead of the Pistons in terms of record suffered huge changes.

At the same time, the Pistons' lineup has not changed much in the new season. After the core team has been baptized in the playoffs, progress in the new season seems to be natural. They may have a great chance to climb into the top half of the Eastern Conference.

But the question is, will it really be that easy?

First, let’s take a look at the Pistons’ offseason lineup changes:

Added list: Dunroe, LeVert, Chaz Lanier, Brice Williams, Charles Bediako;

Departed list: Fontechio, Hardaway Jr., Schroeder, Lindy Waters, Wendell Moore Jr.;

The team did not make major reinforcements during the offseason, and the new members are all supporting puzzle pieces. The Pistons were also very lucky last season. Except for Ivey and Stewart, most of the main rotations were healthy and they were one of the teams least affected by injuries last season.

Deducting the element of luck, the Pistons seem to still have several questions to answer in the new season.

The first is Osar and Duren.

Both of them belong to high-quality young rotations. Osar, who is about to enter the third year of his career, is only 22 years old. After entering the starting lineup in January 2025, he only missed the last game of the regular season and played all the playoffs. He has got rid of the impact of injuries.

At this stage, Osar's advantage lies in defense. In terms of offense, he is still slightly behind his twin brother Amen, and his passing and controlling ability and shooting are also slightly behind. Nearly 80% of his shots last season were near the frame, and he didn't dare to shoot even if the three-point line was open. His outside shooting ability was almost non-existent.

However, even if his shortcomings are obvious, Osar can still find a place in the team's rotation based on his defensive ability and cutting value.

It's just that the current NBA attaches great importance to offense. The most compatible five-man team can only accommodate one person without an outside threat. To realize Osar's value, it must be paired with a shooting inside line.

But it happens that the core center Duren has no outside shooting at all. He is mainly known for his excellent physical fitness and talent. His strong muscles and explosive jumping have also earned him the title of Little Monster.

In terms of offense, he is indeed somewhat similar to Howard, but defensively it is still slightly lower. Taken together, Duren is more similar to Drummond, the former star center of the Pistons. He relies on continuous bouncing to grab offensive rebounds, and the offense ends with his teammates feeding him. Drummond's defensive ability is average, and he has excellent coordination but poor rim protection in the penalty area; while Duren, as the center of the inside, has equally poor defense and mediocre awareness of assisting defense. Misaligned defense on the outside is a disaster, and the center's own rim protection is also embarrassing.

Taken together, Duren and Osar have top-notch physical conditions and talents, but at this stage they are not able to play at the same time at critical moments. Last season, the Pistons tried to avoid having two people on the court at the same time. But if the two are to be considered the future of the team, one must expect one of them to develop an outside shot.

The Pistons hired famous shooting coach Fred Vinson last season, with the main purpose of improving the shooting problems of young players. Defender Ivey had already shown improvement before his injury last season, and wing Holland's shooting in Summer League was also impressive, but the effect has not yet been seen on Osar and Duren.

General manager Traja Landon did not deal with the suitability issues of Osar and Duren this offseason. It seems that he should still have expectations for the development of outsiders. Relatively speaking, I am not that optimistic, and I still prefer to deal with it as soon as possible before the two of them sign a long-term contract. This part is one of the focuses of the new season.

Then the second key point: Who can serve as the second scorer next to Cunningham?

Part of the reason why the team recruited veteran Harris last season is that he has stable singles ability and can force a solution when the tactics fail.

As one of the few reliable large wings in the lineup, Harris is indeed worthy of his contract. It's just that the explosive scoring power continues to decline, and individual offense is no longer what it used to be. After being one year older, it is really difficult for him to take into account offense while solid defense in the new season.

Therefore, the management brought in wing LeVert in the off-season to strengthen the Pistons' lack of ball-handling scorers; but after all, LeVert is only at the league average level and is not the team's long-term answer.

Looking at the current young team of the Pistons, the most suitable candidate is wing Holland, but there is still room for improvement in the current ability to control movement and scoring methods, and it still needs a period of transition.

The last link comes from Cunningham and Ivey.

Jaden Ivey, who was reimbursed due to injury last season, was in his best form before the injury, but unfortunately missed his debut in the playoffs due to injury. When healthy last season, Ivey was the best choice for Cunningham's backcourt partner. He has made steady progress every year. In the future, he is still optimistic about his ability to take on another backcourt position.

Next is Cunningham. His personal data improved significantly last season, but his shortcoming is that it is difficult to stably cause damage when facing large defenders. His three-point shooting is always lower than the league average, and most of the time he relies on inefficient mid-range. As the main ball-holding point, error control is also a big problem.

After the first three seasons, Cunningham only has one All-Rookie First Team and All-NBA Third Team on his honorary resume. Compared with the original expectations of the No. 1 pick, there is still a considerable gap. This is also a point that needs to be analyzed. For Cunningham, there are certainly some problems with the team lineup and teammates, but Cunningham himself is not particularly strong.

Fortunately, after changing the coach and teammates last season, we finally had a breakout season. From this perspective, if the Pistons want to improve in the new season, Cunningham still has to do better..

From a personal point of view, Cunningham's two biggest goals for the new season are three-pointers and turnover control.

Referring to the playoffs last season, when the Pistons played against the Knicks, defenders stepped off the line in large numbers during the pick-and-roll to let Cunningham shoot from the outside. However, he missed all three-pointers, and his three-point shooting rate in the entire series was only 18%. The turnovers are even more troublesome. In the regular season, they averaged 4.4 turnovers per game, ranking second in the league. In the playoffs, they averaged 5.3 turnovers in six games, ranking first in the league.

The last point lies with the team’s head coach.

Coach Bickerstaff performed amazingly well in the Cavaliers. Judging from the progress of the team, there was improvement every year, but in the end he was kicked out because of the lack of control in the locker room. Before Bickerstaff took office, the Pistons had been at the bottom of the Eastern Conference for many years, and the year before they had a record-breaking losing streak.

The young players full of resentment and the aggrieved head coach hit it off immediately, making it easy for them to counterattack from the bottom. But the flames of revenge cannot go out forever. After the passion burns, you still have to return to reality. For Bickerstaff, the biggest test of the new season is to continue to push young players to maintain high intensity.

NBA competition is becoming increasingly fierce, and failure to advance means retreat. In the short term, the Pistons will benefit from being in the Eastern Conference due to injuries to other team leaders, but in the long term, they still need to return to the right track of player growth. After the success in the first year, the Pistons' standards will be different in the new season. After the honeymoon period, the real challenge comes next.

As for the new season of the Pistons, as a team that has just gone through reconstruction, the first few steps of reconstruction were relatively easy, but the new season is about to enter a difficult stage.

This group of young players each has their own shortcomings, but the contract renewal issue they are about to face is also a decision. It is impossible for them to keep all the young people. Who to keep, at what price to keep them, and when to clean up the lineup will all determine the Pistons' echelon position in the next few years.

The first people who need to prepare to renew their contracts are Ivey and Duren. The management has not yet made a clear decision. I personally think that the Pistons should keep these two. Especially considering the deadlock between the four restricted free agents of Kuminga, Guidi, Thomas, and Grimes and the team this offseason, it is best for the Pistons to avoid a similar situation.

In addition to Duren and Ivey, wings Osar, Holland, and even Cunningham, who has been selected to the best team, need to continue to improve, so that the Pistons can avoid falling into a vicious cycle in the mid-range range to the greatest extent.

After losing their two top shooters, can the Pistons find a way to make up for their offensive firepower?

Can the defensive intensity of last season be maintained?

Can young people continue to make progress?

The 2025-26 season is about to be decided.