I apologize Detroit Family, I can’t hold back anymore. The 2024-2025 Detroit Pistons are here and they are turning heads! These guys are the real deal right now. They are not on a championship level yet, but definitely playoff real deal. As of this moment, they are winners of 10 out of the last 12 games, with an 8 game winning streak contained within. How did this happen? Where did they come from? Who’s on the team? Well let’s take a look at the specifics.
Cade Cunningham
You can’t talk Pistons basketball without first starting with the All-Star and budding superstar Cade Cunningham. Drafted out of Oklahoma in 2021 with the no. 1 overall pick, he displayed a very high upside entering the league. It was a struggle at first with his injuries to start his career. He endured a stress fracture in his left leg that limited him to only 12 games in the 2022-2023 season. But since then, he’s been relatively healthy.
In college at Oklahoma, Cade played on the wing a lot more. However, after a couple of years of experimenting with other Point guards (Killian Hayes, Corey Joseph, Jaden Ivey), he and Ivey were given the reigns in the 2023-2024 season to start being the main initiaters of the offense. And Cade’s game has blossomed. This season, he’s obviously blossomed even more. Take a look below, as this shows his full range of abilities. It shows his playmaking and passing ability, his standstill shooting ability, his scoring off the bounce, his movement off the ball, the midrange game and steals on defense. The full package is on dispay.
The Other Young Guns
Yes, Cade is the guy but this team is much more than Cade and some guys around him. Because of the constant bad seasons, Detroit has been stockpiling talent for a while now. And these young guys can hoop. Here they are.
- Jalen Duren– A 21 year old, 6-10 center. This guy’s build and movements reminds me of a young Chris Webber back in the day. He’s not as talented as C. Web of course but he has really quick feet, can handle the ball (He brings the ball up the court from time to time and he can hit his man with a crossover too) and makes some good passes out of their offensive sets. His quick feet allows him to play pick and roll defense well, where he is able to help contain the ball handler and get back to his man on a pass. Again, he’s nowhere near what C. Webb was but everything he does reminds me of him. He has much room to grow and improve in the coming years.
- Jaden Ivey – A 23 yrs old, 6′-4″ guard. He was the 2nd leading scorer on the team before a freak injury happened to him on January 1st of this year. Luckily, Detroit has a lot of other young talent that has stepped right up in his absence, like the next guy on this list.
- Ausar Thompson– A 22 yr old, 6′-6″ guard/forward. This guy is a quick twitch athlete that can sky for lob passes at the rim. He is Detroit’s energy guy and sometimes he is tasked to guard the best perimeter scorer on the opposing team. I used to think his twin brother, Amen Thompson, was the better player. But after starting out scoring only 5 pts a game in November, 8 pts a game in December and January, he’s stepped it up to 13 pts a game since the beginning of February. Maybe it’s just the product of him getting more playing time. Regardless, his freaky athletic skills are a welcomed addition on both ends of the floor.
- Ronald Holland – A 19 yr old 6′-8″ forward. He’s a promising young athlete too. However, he’s caught in a numbers game right now and can’t get on the floor much with the other young guys and vets that are contributers on this team. He still provides additional speed and explosiveness for a team that has plenty of it.
- Isaiah Stewart – A 23 yr old 6’8″ Center. He is the Enforcer of the team. I still remember that night he was about to get at Lebron.
That’s a look at the young guys. Duren, Ivey, Thompson and Holland have plenty of upside in them. The only question is, will Detroit be able to keep all of them happy with enough playing time, touches and money? But that’s for another day. We are celebrating today. Now, let’s take a look at another group that has been instrumental for this team, the vets.
The Veterans
During the offseason, the Pistons President of Basketball Operations, Trajan Langdon, made sure to add some saavy veteran players to the team. Veterans who have tasted winning and know how to play a specific role on a team. He signed two guys and aquired another in a trade. Those acquisitions made me think, ok I like what Detroit is trying to do here. Those guys were Tobias Harris, Malik Beasley and Tim Hardaway Jr.
- Although I was skeptical of the contract for Harris, 2 yrs for 52 million, I still liked that they were acquiring some vets to go around the young talent. Tobias Harris provides a secondary scoring option the team can throw the ball to when designed play-calls breaks down. He has skills to get a good shot off or get to the bucket.
- Malik Beasley is shooting the lights out of the ball. He is having one of his best seasons shooting the 3-ball, shooting it at 42% right now. He’s only had one other season in his career where he’s shot the ball this well from long range. Beasley is streaky and takes some bad shots sometimes but when he’s hot, he definitely impacts the offense in a positive way. After quick stops in Utah, the Lakers and Milwaukee, Beasley may have found a home as a veteran gunner on this Pistons team.
- Tim Hardaway is streaky too but he can still score buckets in bunches at times. Trajan also traded for another vet, Dennis Schroder, at the trade deadline. Schroder is solid defensively and provides offensive playmaking when Cade goes to the bench.
All four of these vets know their role and Harris, Beasley and Hardaway are each scoring over 10 points a game for this loaded team. Now, let’s talk about another factor in the team’s success.
The Coach
Another move Landgon made was bringing in BJ Bickerstaff. Bickerstaff was highly successful at his last stop in Cleveland. He took a young team and raised those young pups to a level where they were making the playoffs consistently. Unfortunately, the stakes were higher after they landed Donovan Mitchell in a trade and apparently the Cavs wanted another coach to take the team to the next level. Well, “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure”. And J.B. has been Detroit’s treasure.
There are two things I notice when watching the Pistons. The 1st thing is their defense. They are active and physical. This leads to tipped passes, contested shots and turnovers by the other team. From there, those young guys (and the vets) run the floor for transition buckets. Their speed is very noticeable. And after being 26th in opponent FG% in the 2022-2023 season (48.9%) and 24th in 2023-2024 (49%), Detroit is 11th so far this year, at 46.2% for opponent’s FG%. That’s a big jump, going from the mid 20s to 11th. That speaks to the improvements Bickerstaff and his staff have made with the team’s defense.
Team rebounding is the 2nd thing I noticed about them. It’s been said, “no rebounds, no rings”. Detroit is 3rd in rebounding differential, as seen below.
With the rebounding edge and improved defense, these young bucks are able to get out and run for easy buckets on offense. JB’s obviously been the right man at the right time for the job. After getting fired by Cleveland, he’s showed that he’s resilent and can take another young team and build a winner, again. Way to go J.B.
So there you have it, an overview of the current version of the 2024-2025 Detroit Pistons. The die hard NBA media types are starting to recognize this team, but they are not getting enough hype from the National Main Stream Media. And why would they, it’s been over 15 years since they have been relevant. If they can stay in that 6th playoff spot, the team they will face (NY Knicks or Milwaukee Bucks) better come prepared. Detroit could upset either one of them. Ready or not, here comes the Detroit Pistons! It’s time for them to be heard from again and start their ascent in the Eastern Conference. Let’s go Detroit. Deeee-Troit…. Basketball!
