Detroit Pistons 2019-2020 Season Outlook

The countdown to the start of the 2020 NBA season rolls on and so does our team by team analysis of the offseason to this point. The subject of today’s analysis is none other than the Detroit Pistons.

Key Additions: Derrick Rose, Markieff Morris, Tony Snell, Tim Frazier

Key Subtractions: Jose Calderon, Ish Smith, Wayne Ellington, Glenn Robinson

Draft: Sekou Doumbouya, Deividas Sirvydis, Jordan Bone

The Pistons are coming off of a decent season which saw them sneak into the Eastern Conference Playoffs as the eighth seed before being promptly swept by the Milwaukee Bucks. Despite a mediocre season the Pistons have plenty to be optimistic about. Blake Griffin is coming off of one of the best seasons of his career, and Detroit has made some excellent under the radar moves. The best of these moves is the signing of point guard Derrick Rose. While he may not be the MVP version of himself, he is still a very capable NBA player, and experienced a resurgent season with the Minnesota Timberwolves last season. Detroit has been a team that has been a good point guard away from making a jump up the standings in the East and Rose gives them what they need at the position. In addition to Rose the Pistons also brought in Markeiff Morris, Tony Snell, and Tim Frazier. Adding Morris and Snell give Detroit some much needed depth. If they are going to be competitive they will certainly need a deeper roster than what they’ve had the last handful of seasons. 

As for players going out the door the Pistons did lose a few mainstays on their roster. Guard Ish Smith and forward Glenn Robinson both left this summer, as well as guards Wayne Ellington and Jose Calderon. These subtractions certainly left some holes on the Pistons’ roster, however they addressed nearly every hole left in free agency with the moves they made. The additions have outweighed the subtractions so far for Detroit and they are a better team now than they were on July 1.

The Pistons did alright for themselves in the draft as well as free agency. They selected international forward Sekou Doumbouya with the 15th pick. Doumbouya has drawn comparisons to Raptors forward Pascal Siakam, so there’s definitely a high ceiling there. After taking Doumbouya, Detroit took another international player, this time it was Lithuanian forward Deividas Sirvydis. The Pistons final pick came when they selected Tennessee guard Jordan Bone with the 57th pick. Overall the Pistons had a solid draft that added some legitimate depth to their bench.

Final Outlook on the Detroit Pistons

The Pistons will be an interesting team to keep an eye on this season. They have a fantastic front court with Blake Griffin and Andre Drummond, and have added some talent to their backcourt with the additions of Derrick Rose and Tony Snell. Bringing in players like Rose and Markieff Morris will add some experience and toughness to the Pistons’ roster as well. In addition to this, the Pistons had a good, but not great draft. Their haul of rookies has potential to make an impact sooner rather than later, but as always, the rookies are a relative unknown. With all this being said the Pistons will find themselves right back in the playoff hunt with a regular season record of 43-39.