Detroit Team Review

2021-22 Finish: 60-22

Season Highlight:

I would start this saying it was a banner year for the Detroit Pistons as a 60-win team is not bad at all, but they were coming off a ridiculous 69-win the season prior, so I guess this was just an OK season?
In my opinion, the highlight has to be reaching the NSL Finals in back to back years, or being the Eastern Conference Champ back2back, if you prefer. Excellence repeated.

Season Lowlight:

The obvious lowlight is the step that�s been missing for Detroit, and for 28 other teams so far, that is winning it all. It�s not easy, far from it. Detroit has been an excellent team, truly! History might not remember them and most of us, because that�s not what we, humans do, but in this recap, they will be congratulated for the outstanding job GM Sheed has done repeatedly. 

Best Trade:

The Detroit Pistons send Kyle Lowry to the Golden State Warriors. The Golden State Warriors send Jakob Poeltl, Dillon Brooks and Troy Brown to the Detroit Pistons.

The Detroit Pistons receive 44 GM points. The Golden State Warriors trade -44 GM points.

This trade was made after Lowry had an awesome run in the regular season and in the playoffs for Detroit with a touch of the glitchy juice in the previous engine. Sheed got back soli role players who evolved but with limited ceilings. Lowry got injured a lot and looked REALLY out of shape the whole season. So a win.

Worst Trade:

The Cleveland Cavaliers send John Konchar to the Detroit Pistons. The Detroit Pistons send Tomas Satoransky to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

I get this was a salary move but still, Sato can still play and Konchar might be Cancar, nobody really knows.

Other Notable Trades:

The Detroit Pistons send Anfernee Simons to the Phoenix Suns. The Phoenix Suns send Cole Anthony to the Detroit Pistons.

Looking back, this trade is a push, although I think I like Simons a bit perhaps? Anthony is no longer in Detroit though by next season�s roster with Hardaway Jr coming in post flip.

Free Agency:

The Pistons are always a threat as long as the league existed because they always have a good record and seem to be precise in their targets. They have a fair bit of points and I expect it all to be allocated to one of the Free agent�s available bigs along the way. They stand at 74 points which is good enough for a solid and competitive bid taking into account the leveler.

As it stands now, they have all their players under contract and the risk averse GM Sheed has no other worries about retaining anybody.
Time to fill out the rest of the roster with big depth and possible glitch guys.
 

Star:

Rudy Gobert - It�s gotta be Rudy right? Played in 63 games, which is higher than any of the big three and put up 15-16-3 on great percentages and is an absolute menace on the defensive end of the court. He�s been a staple for Detroit for years.
 

Franz is the man in Utah at the moment. Though his numbers look horrid due to his GM tanking out the season. So he averaged 9.4 points, but in only 23 minutes a night, for their best player! This year I would expect to see him hitting 30+ minutes a night if no sanctions are to be forthcoming and he�ll respond by pushing 15-20 points a game in return. You know your team is young and new, when a rookie averaging 10 points is the star of the squad!

Flop:

Kyrie Irving

Statistically, he�s great, almost 28 points and still a bully!
Thing is he played in 28 games, which is terrible!
He�s just such a loose cannon and you can never know his next move and that is terrible for conservative GMs or simply GMs at all, because he might just never show up, you know?

Draft Grades:

#25 � Wendell Moore Jr.

I have Wendell as a C+, as I don�t see the biggest potential in him but he might be a plug and play guy since he sure knows how to play and do the little things and knows how to win. Wendell is also a good ball handler and rebounder so might have position versatility.

The Future:

I see Detroit turning over a new leaf here because of the more recent trades done post flip. With the team that finished the season, I expected the team to be atop the East once more, but now with more of foresight, I think they will be around the middle of the East standings, waiting for Robert Williams to come back and for the Brooklyn Nets to be really bad.

C: Robert Williams/

PF: Cedi Osman/

SF: Dillon Brooks/Hardaway Jr./John Konchar

SG: Donovan Mitchell/Wendell Moore Jr./Alec Burks

PG: Kyrie Irving/Reggie Jackson