They’ll be fun at times, as young teams can be. And on the nights when they’re making shots and racing up the court and catching one of the league’s heavyweights off guard, well, that’ll feel like progress. At the least, it’ll feel good in the moment when, say, the Detroit Pistons knock off the Celtics or the 76ers or the Nets or the Clippers. Because they’ll be good enough to do that occasionally.
The problem is they’ll also have to play the Hawks and the Bucks and the Heat and the Bulls and the Raptors and the Cavaliers and the Pacers and the Knicks and the Wizards and the Magic, all teams that got better in some way, whether through the draft or through trade or through free injury or through the return of an injured star — though the Bulls aren’t whole yet.
Cleveland could be a contender thanks to Donovan Mitchell. The Hawks were a contender two years ago and added Dejounte Murray. The Bucks get Khris Middleton back. The Wizards get Bradley Beal back. The 76ers get James Harden back … potentially (The star guard hasn’t been both in shape and healthy in two years).
The Nets get Kyrie Irving and Ben Simmons back, and while you wouldn’t bet money on how many games they’ll play, they should make Brooklyn as formidable as anyone in the league.
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Everywhere the Pistons look, they’ll face a team with equal or better talent, except for the Hornets, who are a mess. Even the Pacers will fight, and if they lose enough, they’ll probably trade away a couple of their vets, which could make them an easier out.
But not until later this winter.
Meanwhile, the Western Conference is loaded, too. Not as deep, perhaps. Though the conference is a menace at the top, and tough through the middle.
The NBA has never been deeper, more skilled, or more wide open. A handful of teams are good enough to win it all — maybe more than a handful:
Brooklyn, Boston, Philadelphia, Miami, Milwaukee in the East, L.A. Clippers, Phoenix, Memphis, Dallas, Denver and Golden State in the West.
It should be fun for those that love the league, but tough for those that love a team starting a 21 and 20-year-old in the backcourt. Well, tough if you don’t have patience.
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You’ll need it. Not that this season won’t have its rewards for the Pistons and their young starting backcourt.
Jaden Ivey will slice through the defense and hammer-dunk and he’ll do it leaving a trail of wind in his wake. He’ll also leave his feet in the lane with nowhere to go and try to split a double team and lose the ball when he slips through.
Yet you won’t be able to take your eyes off him when he’s on the court. His speed is breathtaking. His vision and passing a plus that Pistons weren’t counting on.
And on the nights when he combines the two and sprints into the lane and drops it to Isaiah Stewart or Jalen Duren for a dunk, you’ll see a bit of the future. Just as you did a year ago when Cade Cunningham made buckets and made plays late in games.
This is Cunningham’s team now. The veterans who surround him are here to help. How he shoots and finishes and directs traffic this season should tell us plenty about where he — and therefore the Pistons — are headed.
It’s a star’s league still. This season should help tell us if the Pistons may have a couple of future ones on the roster, including Cunningham.
It should also tell us if Stewart is on his way to becoming a true stretch big man, and if Saddiq Bey is closer to the shooter we saw when he was a rookie or the shooter we saw last season. The third-year forward has more game than a catch-and-shoot-and-defend wing, but that game still has its limits.
This is the season he’ll need to hone the space between a standstill scorer and an isolation scorer, to map out his identity as a player, and to map out a path for longevity, to get more comfortable with a role.
Summer gym time is critical for every basketball player. Winter gym time is critical for every team. We’ve heard a lot about the work the youngsters put in over the summer. Now we’ll get to see the results as a team in the winter.
That begins tonight at Little Caesars Arena against Orlando, another young team with a promising duo — Franz Wagner and Paolo Banchero — that is looking to discover itself in a Conference that is unforgiving.
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General manager Troy Weaver said the Pistons were finally at “ground zero” when he met reporters on media day. Meaning, they were no longer in the red with bad contracts and players who, for whatever reason, couldn’t help the team move toward the future.
As the team tries to head into the black, remember the strength of the league and the depth of its talent, and that on some nights the Pistons’ talent will surprise, on more nights it will learn, and on every night it will compete.
Rebuilds are hard this way. This doesn’t mean they can’t also be fun.
Contact Shawn Windsor: 313-222-6487 or swindsor@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @shawnwindsor.