Detroit will be a contender in the East very soon.

[slightly biased bias fan]

Watching Pistons against Cavs, I was extremely impressed with SVG team. Their core is very young, very talented and very hard working.

Stan has the Pistons replicate his Orlando Magic team of 2009 but this team is much deeper, younger and other than a prime Howard, more talented.

Drummond will be a perennial all star and if he can work on some of his post moves and raise his FT shooting to even just a respectable .600 he will be the best centre in the game. KCP and Stanley Johnson look to have great upside and I am extremely surprised about the strides Reggie Jackson has made. Marcus Morris is the perfect modern 4 who could play the 5 in a small ball line up if he put on some size and if Drummond doesn't hit his FT's Baynes is a fantastic back up centre. I can see Pistons taking Raptors spot as the 2nd seed in the East even next season if they can get some better supporting players.

[Who]

Agreed. I love their size and athleticism 1 through 5. A very tough team to matchup against physically. They have lots of young guys who are improving. Team should be a 47-52 win squad next year just with internal development of the talent they have already collected.

[indeedproceed]

I bet we'll see Tobias Harris come up with a big game 2. He seemed hesitant in what was his first playoff game at 23. He was hustling, but seemed to lack confidence in his shot (he only had 11 FGA in 40 mins)

Same is true for a lot of that team actually. Young, first time in the playoffs, or first time being featured on a team in the playoffs.

[Moranis]

I bet we'll see Tobias Harris come up with a big game 2. He seemed hesitant in what was his first playoff game at 23. He was hustling, but seemed to lack confidence in his shot (he only had 11 FGA in 40 mins)

Same is true for a lot of that team actually. Young, first time in the playoffs, or first time being featured on a team in the playoffs.

maybe, but I expect Cleveland to blow them out.  Game 3 is the one game I think Detroit has a real shot at winning, but this is a 4 or 5 game series at best.

[Csfan1984]

This reminds of how bleak the C's situation is. Pistons have a lot more talent than C's and are a rising team. They will probably lose in 5 games. C's need a great draft and FA or its back to a 7 or 8 seed come next year.

[alldaboston]

This reminds of how bleak the C's situation is. Pistons have a lot more talent than C's and are a rising team. They will probably lose in 5 games. C's need a great draft and FA or its back to a 7 or 8 seed come next year.

Sad. Yet true.

[CelticsFan166]

This reminds of how bleak the C's situation is. Pistons have a lot more talent than C's and are a rising team. They will probably lose in 5 games. C's need a great draft and FA or its back to a 7 or 8 seed come next year.

Look, I know pessimism is popular on this forum (I myself can be pessimistic when we are playing awful and losing games so I completely understand where you are coming from) but to say our situation is bleak is a stretch. We're set up with a good young core and a set of draft picks for the next 3-4 years that will keep us on the rise. Heck, we had the same exact record as the three seed this year, and are getting the draft picks of the third worst team in the league (this year at least) for the next three drafts. It's hard to call our situation "bleak" when there are teams out there like Brookln who suck out loud and don't even have their own draft picks to make things better for them.

[fairweatherfan]

This reminds of how bleak the C's situation is. Pistons have a lot more talent than C's and are a rising team. They will probably lose in 5 games. C's need a great draft and FA or its back to a 7 or 8 seed come next year.

Sad. Yet true.

It's neither.  20-25 teams would kill to be set up for the future the way we are.  You'd have to be pretty deep in the pessimism tank to see our future as "bleak" in any way. 

[alldaboston]

This reminds of how bleak the C's situation is. Pistons have a lot more talent than C's and are a rising team. They will probably lose in 5 games. C's need a great draft and FA or its back to a 7 or 8 seed come next year.

Sad. Yet true.

It's neither.  20-25 teams would kill to be set up for the future the way we are.  You'd have to be pretty deep in the pessimism tank to see our future as "bleak" in any way.

You're right. Maybe bleak was the wrong word. I just think detroits situation is a great one. They have 2 players who could be legit stars. I still love our situation, but it's just interesting to compare it with other teams.

[Lucky17]

It's good to see Detroit back on the map. They'd gone through a very bleak time over the last decade. Front office ineptitude, roster dysfunction, a coaching turnstile, a messy ownership change -- nothing about the franchise was positive in any way.

Despite his current flaws, Drummond seems a good piece to build around. Amazing how that can help solidify a plan for a rebuild.

Back on track, but still lots of work to be done. Every player needs to continue to develop.