But what's easy to forget and important to remember is that the Pistons have the youngest and most stable core group of players in the Eastern Conference. Their top six guys are all under 26, and are all under team control for the next 3-5 years. Their "window" is quite large, so there’s no urgency to win the championship within the next couple years.
Their starting five including Harris went 17-9 during their end-of-season playoff run, and did so despite having
the least productive bench in the NBA. (By contrast, the Celtics had the second most productive bench in the NBA, scoring roughly 12 ppg more than the Pistons’ bench.)
That 17-9 record, projected over 82 games, puts the Pistons at… wait for it… 53.6 wins.
- With Steve Blake logging heavy minutes.
- With Jodie Meeks’ $6.5 million of production in street clothes.
- With Stanley Johnson missing nine games due to injury.
- With post-injury Stanley Johnson shooting bricks.
- With KCP and Morris playing 36+ minutes per game.
- With He Who Will Not Be Named still counting for $5 million against the cap.
While their bench was supposed to look like this: Jennings, Meeks, Stanley, Tolliver, Baynes… for a good chunk of the Tobias Harris Era, it looked like this: Old Man (Blake), Rookie (
Hilliard), Unproven (Bullock), Drifter (
Justin Harper), Baynes.
Yet they beat Portland by 20 with that bench.
They beat the
Mavericks, in Dallas, with only Blake, Bullock and Baynes removing their warmups.
Strengthening that bench is all the Pistons really needed to accomplish this offseason in order to become a top team in the East. When evaluating the Pistons’ final record over the past two seasons, it’s important to keep in mind just how weak the bench has been down the stretch.
Stay Van Gundy gutted his depth and shooting to trade for Reggie Jackson, and it showed. They ran with
John Lucas III,
Shawne Williams and Tayshaun Prince during the final third of the season. I’m pretty sure all three of those guys are out of the league by now.
Last year, he traded his primary backup PG and top three-point shooter for another starter in Tobias Harris, and played most of the first half of the season without his top two (expected) bench scorers in
Brandon Jennings and Jodie Meeks. The Pistons’ bench was then led by Old Man Blake during the final third of the season.
That’s right… even if we’re being conservative and just adding a couple wins due to having a competent bench that doesn’t cough up huge leads on a nightly basis, you could see the 2016-17 Pistons as a 55-win team.
And while Ish Smith may not be Jeremy Lin or Matthew Dellavedova, he is most certainly an upgrade over Steve Blake. His contract is an incredible bargain when compared to the silly money being thrown at average players these days.
Jon Leuer is absolutely an upgrade over Anthony Tolliver. And while he’s not a sexy FA signing,
he’s absolutely perfect for this team and its needs.
And Boban! (I’ve learned that’s all you have to say about him. Ever.)
Absent long-term injuries (as with Brandon Jennings and Jodie Meeks last season), the Pistons' bench will absolutely be better. It won’t be routinely surrendering leads. You won’t have to watch Dennis Schroeder blow past Blake for layup after layup while screaming "put Reggie back in!"
[Steve Blake was a 36-year-old PG signed to be a third-string insurance policy. It really wasn’t his fault. Sorry, Steve.]
Ish Smith is a 27-year-old journeyman, but after playing starter minutes for a bad team, he’s more than capable of holding down the fort for 18-20 minutes on the second unit of a playoff team.
The Pistons' bench will look something like this:
Already this unit is far better and deeper than it was last year.
So let’s direct our attention back to the starting five.
BEST YOUNG CORE IN THE EAST
Only three teams got more production out of their starters last season than the Pistons: Oklahoma City, Golden State and Cleveland. So yes,
the Pistons starters produced more offense than any other starting five in the entire NBA, aside from the best three teams in the league.
