Trajan Langdon senses the opportunity, just like everyone else. After a series of injuries to star players closed the door on a few contenders in the East, he knows that one might have opened for the Pistons. He's just not in a rush to storm through it.
"It’s definitely provoked some thought internally in terms of what we can do to get better. It hasn’t changed the roadmap for us," Langdon said Tuesday ahead of the NBA Draft, where the Pistons hold only a second-round pick. "I don’t think we’re in a place to push all of our chips in, and be locked in to a place. We still want to keep that optionality."
The playoffs proved what the Pistons might be capable of with their current core after Detroit went blow for blow in a six-game series with the the Knicks, who wound up a couple wins from the NBA Finals. They also watered down the East next season when three teams lost major pieces to the same dreaded Achilles injury: the Bucks will be without Damian Lilliard, the Celtics without Jayson Tatum, and the Pacers without Tyrese Haliburton.
The Pistons, meanwhile, will get back 23-year-old guard Jaden Ivey from a fractured leg in January that ended his breakout season, along with 24-year-old center Isaiah Stewart, who missed all but one game of the Knicks series with a knee injury -- and may well have changed the outcome had he been healthy. Those two will rejoin a rising young roster headlined by All-NBA point guard Cade Cunningham, plus several other recent lottery picks.
Amid growing sentiment that the Pistons should look externally to add another star next to Cunningham, "improvement, for us, is more internal," said Langdon. That includes players like Jalen Duren, Ausar Thompson and Ron Holland II continuing to elevate their games.
"And our guys have been in the gym, working a lot. They want to get better," said Langdon. "So I think we will see growth from our young players from this year to next year, and I think that’s ultimately what’s really important for us, because if those guys get better, we’ll get better."
Langdon acknowledged that "there will be a time" to take a bolder approach to the offseason, but right now, the Pistons are prioritizing the development of their own players and cap flexibility in the years ahead. Trading for a high-priced star such as Devin Booker of the Suns or Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Bucks would seem to run counter to that line of thinking.
And owner Tom Gores is on board with the plan. Langdon said they haven't pondered "any huge financial commitments" this offseason other than what's already on the books -- like Cunningham's five-year, $270 million extension that kicks in next season -- and what it might cost to retain some of their own free agents.
"We’re not going to be super aggressive this summer, I don’t think," Langdon said. "I don’t foresee any of that. Again, it’s just developing from within and hoping to keep a couple vet pieces that we had on the roster this past year. And if we can add around the margins to get better, we will. but I don’t think it’s anything that’s going to be super aggressive or crazy."
One team on the same rung as the Pistons already made a leap this summer: the Magic traded multiple players and first-round picks for Desmond Bane as they try to climb the ladder in the East. Langdon called it a "great move" by Orlando -- "they're going to be a really good team" -- and said the Pistons are open to similar possibilities that don't jeopardize the long-term health of the organization.
"If it’s a player coming back that adds value and it’s not too expensive and it doesn’t hamper our ability to have optionality going forward or hamper internally the development of our players, we’ll look to do it," Langdon said.
In other words, the Pistons see most of their gains this summer and next season coming from within. The biggest item on Langdon agenda isn't trying to import another impact player, but retaining free agents like Malik Beasley, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Dennis Schröder who played a key role in the team's success last season, and putting contingency plans in place should those players sign elsewhere.
"If we can keep some of the guys that we had as part of this run, some of the vets, that would be great," Langdon said. "We know they’re going to get interest from other teams as well, so we’ll also have to have backup options if they choose to go somewhere else for a deal that we can’t match or a deal that we can’t get to. We’d like to get those guys back, but we’ll be prepared to go in another direction, if need be."
Otherwise, it sounds like the Pistons are staying the course.