Amid Season from Hell, a Few Bright Spots Remain for PistonsThis season has been a disaster for the Pistons, but there are a handful of promising developments from a year to forget in Detroit.
As Cade Cunningham’s ascent to superstardom takes flight, the focus around the Detroit Pistons isn’t on the third-year guard. It’s on the team’s general manager, Troy Weaver, who was filmed getting into a verbal altercation with a fan during the Pistons 142-124 loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Saturday night. In a season filled with so many bad storylines for Detroit, this incident is another unfortunate circumstance in a season from the depths of hell. But there are a few positives that deserve some spotlight. The first is the most important. Cade Cunningham is on the path to stardomPost All-Star Break, Cunningham is averaging 25.4 points, 7.9 assists, and 5.1 rebounds per game. He’s amongst the best 3-point shooters in the league during this span, knocking down 43.8% of his outside shots. From the field, he is shooting 48.1%. His turnover numbers continue to decrease. In the first 44 games of the season, Cunningham was a minus-7.8. In the last 10 games, he’s plus-4.3. Cunningham is playing more aggressively than he ever has before. As his aggression has lifted, his efficiency has with it. He was going shot for shot with Luka Doncic the other night. https://twitter.com/PalaceOfPistons/status/1766633813986177027 N othing matters more than this. Cunningham is blossoming into the star Detroit had foreseen him to be when they drafted him with the 1st pick in the 2021 NBA Draft. Quietly, I was beginning to feel a bit skeptical earlier this year. In the upcoming offseason, Cunningham becomes eligible to sign a rookie extension worth well over $200 million. Between his inefficiency and injury history, blindly handing him that contract and committing that much long-term money to Cunningham did not seem like the best idea for an organization that has historically housed some of the worst contracts in the league over the years. Now, offering the extension to Cunningham the day it becomes possible is a no-brainer. You can see it on the court and in the numbers. Cunningham is taking the leap. He’s becoming a star. Simone Fontecchio is a long-term pieceI thought Troy Weaver and the rest of Detroit’s front office did a poor job executing the pair of trades they made with the New York Knicks at the trade deadline. But even if the return for Bojan Bogdanovic and Alec Burks is underwhelming, the same front office essentially added Simone Fontecchio to this team for free. He’s coming off the bench for Detroit right now. Il would consider starting him in place of Ausar Thompson - but Detroit is committed to starting a frontcourt of Thompson, Isaiah Stewart, and Jalen Duren for the time being. Whether he’s starting or coming off the bench, Fontecchio is a player, and a damn good one for Detroit. In 13 games with the Pistons, Fontecchio is averaging 15.2 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 2.0 assists per game. The shooting he offers is legitimate, too. He’s shooting 43% from deep on 6.1 attempts per game. The 6’7” forward is also a more than adequate defender. I wouldn’t go as far as to say he is a good defender, but he is much better on that side of the floor than his predecessor. Fans slotted Fontecchio in as the Bojan Bogdanovic replacement after the trade, and while they are much different players overall, Fontecchio has thrived in a similar role with the team. Like Bogdanovic, he has come to Detroit and taken on an elevated offensive role compared to the team he was previously with. He will enter free agency as a restricted free agent in July. Detroit has indicated that the 28-year-old is part of the team’s future plans and that they want to bring him back. They should do so quickly. The Pistons are going to have a top draft pick… againOkay, I say this tongue-in-cheek. This isn’t how the organization planned for this season to go and now Detroit is starring down the barrel of having another top-five draft pick. Yes, this season wasn’t supposed to go the way it has, but on the bright side, it isn’t a bad thing to have another good draft pick at your disposal. Whether the Pistons use the pick on one of the top prospects in the 2024 NBA Draft or trade it in a move to upgrade the roster, there’s value in the pick. No matter how sad it is that the Pistons are back in the same spot for the third year in a row. Back to realityWe don’t know what the future looks like for Detroit yet - or if the people currently in charge will remain in their positions of power past this season. What we do know is this - all is not lost - even if this season sure has made it feel that way. They have a handful of promising core players that are worth building around. Mercifully, this season will end in a few weeks and the Pistons will enter a pivotal offseason. It’s on the Pistons to not mess this offseason up the way they did last summer. And if they do, I’ll be writing much different words.  We’ll mail you a random Pistons item off eBay……if you refer 25 friends to subscribe to Palace of Pistons. Click this button to share POP with a Pistons fan in your life. The item will be ∼$25 in value. Did someone send this to you?
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Wednesday, March 13, 2024
Amid Season from Hell, a Few Bright Spots Remain for Pistons
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