The Pistons enter this season with four fresh first-round picks set to play major roles: Cade Cunningham, Killian Hayes, Isaiah Stewart and Saddiq Bey. The oldest among them is Bey, who doesn't turn 23 until April. They also plan to lean on Saben Lee, Hamidou Diallo and Frank Jackson, all of whom are under the age of 24.
"We have some special young talent," Dwane Casey said Monday at Pistons media day. "And I use the word young because we are going to have our ups and downs, our adversity. But at the same time, we want people to have to make a decision when they come into LCA to play."
That decision, in essence: prepare for a fight or accept a loss. The Pistons picked plenty of fights last season, often with the top teams in the league. They lost most of them but emerged with some callouses. This season they'll be tougher to knock down. Casey pointed to the San Francisco Giants as proof that a major leap is possible this year for the Pistons.
"Not saying we're going to be like the Giants, but they were picked fourth from the bottom and now they have the best record in Major League Baseball," said Casey. "I hope and pray we emulate that. It can be done. So I say, why not us? Everybody’s counting us out and got us at the bottom, which is great, fine. I function better being an underdog and hopefully our guys put a chip on their shoulder. There’s no reason to put limits on how high we can go without being realistic and understanding it’s going to be tough and difficult, but it still can be done. Why not us?"
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The Pistons notched wins over six of the top eight teams in the East last season and hung tough with several of the top teams in the West. Now they're a year older, and their youngest player was the No. 1 pick in the draft. They've also added some proven vets, headlined by sharpshooting center Kelly Olynyk.
"We had a lot of close games last year," said Casey. "One thing that our guys didn’t do is quit playing. They played hard every night. So bring that to the table again this year, with added experience, added talent and added three-point shooting, and we should take a full step forward."
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In terms of basketball comparisons, the Pistons might find inspiration in a pair of first-round playoff foes last season. The Knicks and the Hawks won 20 and 21 games, respectively, in 2019-20, then vaulted to fourth and fifth in the East in 2020-21. The Pistons won 20 games last season, and GM Troy Weaver made it clear when the season ended that "20 wins is not happening again."
On Monday, Weaver said he expects the Pistons to improve this season in two key areas.
"One is defense. We have to hang our hat on our defense," Weaver said. "The strength of our team will be our effort, our energy and our depth, so defense has to be the way we really step it up. And the second is the shooting. We’ve added some shooting via free agency, the draft and internal development. So our defense and shooting are two things that we’ll look to take a tick up this year."
The Pistons actually finished 10th in the NBA last season in points against per game (111.1), but clearly Weaver thinks they're capable of more. For one, they finished 26th in defensive rebounds. On the other end, they ranked 22nd in three-point shooting percentage and 24th from the field. Weaver is expecting Olynyk and fellow free agent acquisition Trey Lyles to provide a boost in this department.
With Detroit's young core taking shape around a sturdy cast of vets -- and don't forget leading scorer and gold medal winner Jerami Grant -- Weaver was asked whether the Pistons can take a big step forward this season.
"I hope so," he said. "That’s the goal. We definitely want to come in and restore what’s been here. We want to put a team on the floor that resonates with the city and the fanbase."