The 2024-25 NBA season is here! We break down the biggest questions, best and worst case scenarios and fantasy prospects for all 30 teams. Enjoy!
DETROIT PISTONS
2023-24 end
Offseason moves
Additions: Head Coach JB Bickerstaff, Tobias Harris, Tim Hardaway Jr., Malik Beasley, Paul Reed, Ron Holland, Wendell Moore Jr., Bobi Klintman
Subtractions: Quentin Grimes, James Wiseman, Evan Fournier, Troy Brown Jr., Malachi Flynn, Stanley Umude, Taj Gibson, Chimezie Metu
Complete roster
The Big Question: Is Cade Cunningham worth building around?
We’re three years into former No. 1 overall pick Cade Cunningham’s career, and we’re no closer to answering the question: Is he a fundamental star? He showed glimpses of greatness. He finished third behind Scottie Barnes and Evan Mobley in 2022 Rookie of the Year voting. He came back from a shin injury that cost him all but 12 games of his sophomore campaign to average 23-4-8 per game last season.
It was encouraging to see Cunningham play as hard as he did last season, even as his Detroit Pistons lost an NBA-record 28 consecutive games and finished with a bottom-five record for the fifth straight season.
Those finishes yielded a string of lottery picks, including Cunningham. Killian Hayes was a bust. Jaden Ivey could be good, even though the previous head coach didn’t believe in him. Ausar Thompson shot 18.6% from deep last season. Ron Holland was considered an achievement as the number 5 overall pick in this year’s draft.
In theory, Ivey, Thompson and Holland should complement Cunningham. They are a collection of electric athletics. Ivey could be an explosive secondary creator as Cunningham’s backcourt partner. Holland could be a bucket taker on the wing, where Thompson wanted to do something else. Jalen Duren, the No. 13 overall pick in 2022, has shown as much promise under center as any of them at their positions.
In practice, none of them is willing to push the organization forward. So the Pistons added Tobias Harris, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Malik Beasley over the summer. They aren’t the bones of a great team, but they should be good enough to definitively answer this question: Can Cunningham raise his level of play?
Harris, Hardaway and Beasley all enjoyed productive seasons in the space created by superstars. They are capable NBA players, something that was in short order for Detroit last season. At least when Cunningham drives into traffic, he can count on someone being able to shoot his chase.
Cunningham has all the tools. He is a 6-foot-6, 220-pound point guard. He has the vision and the size to create against any defense. He shot 40% from distance in college. And he plays with the deliberate speed of a high-use superstar. He just wasn’t an effective offensive center. But he always had excuses. No one expected him to elevate the mix of prospects the administration had placed around him.
Those excuses are gone. No one thinks he’ll turn this group into a playoff threat either, but can Cunningham advance some level of competence with this offense? Can he meet Harris, Hardaway and Beasley at a baseline of mediocrity? Can he give the front office reason to believe that – if there is greatness in Ivey, Thompson and Holland – Cunningham will step it up and meet them at their level?
The Pistons might as well find out now, as Cunningham’s $224 million max contract is due in July.
Best case scenario
The Pistons are in a catch-22. They owe a top-13 protected pick to the Minnesota Timberwolves. The protections of this election began in 2021; they’ll stay until a) Detroit isn’t terrible or b) 2027. But the Pistons have been so bad for so long that they can’t last three more years of this, right? Imagine if the first pick spends his entire rookie contract on a team bound for nowhere. The Pistons have to be better, collectively, and that starts with Cunningham. On the bright side, they can show some progress, still finish with a bottom-13 record and keep the pick, but at least they showed us something.
If everything falls apart
Cunningham is not the answer. Neither is Ivey, Thompson or Holland. The Pistons are coming off five seasons at the bottom of the standings to the same hellscape they were in before, when they spent a handful of top-10 picks on Greg Monroe, Brandon Knight, Andre Drummond, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Stanley Johnson, only pipped out as an eighth seed who couldn’t win a playoff game. Rinse, repeat.
A fancy spin
Cunningham is one of my favorite picks in the third round this season. If his preseason is any indication of what to expect, fantasy managers are in for a productive year from the fourth-year guard. Cunningham is averaging 14.8 points, 5.2 rebounds and 7.5 assists with just two turnovers in 24 minutes this preseason. The stock and 3’s will come, but it’s time to get on the motorCade.
Duren is a big man to target in the fifth round of drafts. He is one of four players in NBA history to average at least 13 points and 11 rebounds per game before turning 21 years old. He will finish among the leaders in double-doubles and an increase in stock will push him into the top 50 in fantasy this one. a year Harris continues to be a boring pick but remains consistent in fantasy. He finished in the top 65 in 10 consecutive seasons, yet his ADP is 67 – underrated as usual.
Thompson (illness) has yet to be cleared for contact, while Ivey has put together one of the best preseasons in the league. That efficiency will not holdbut he’s certainly worth a late-round flier with a modest ADP of 133. — And Titus
schedule 2024-25
Take the below. It’s the Pistons.
