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DETROIT — For the past two seasons, the Detroit Pistons have been trying to prove they belong.
Now, the challenge is proving they can stay there.
After completing one of the league’s quickest turnarounds and winning 60 games a season ago, the Pistons arrived at Monday’s Media Day with a noticeably different set of expectations.
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Detroit is no longer the young team trying to surprise people. After finishing atop the Eastern Conference and advancing to the conference semifinals, the Pistons enter this season knowing they will receive everyone’s best shot.
Head coach J.B. Bickerstaff, however, isn’t concerned with how the rest of the conference views Detroit — or what other contenders did during the offseason.
“Yeah, I mean, the East is good, obviously,” Bickerstaff said. “The amount of talent that’s flooded the East and the way the teams have been built and put together. But, you know, we don’t really give a [expletive] about what everybody else is doing. The only thing that matters to us is what we do.
“And we know what Pistons basketball looks like. So if we go out and play Pistons basketball, I like our chances versus anybody.”
While the biggest storyline surrounding the team remains the contract situation involving All-Star center Jalen Duren, Detroit otherwise returns much of the core responsible for last season’s success.
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All-Star Cade Cunningham and rising star Ausar Thompson remain at the center of it, while players such as Paul Reed, Ron Holland II and Kevin Huerter could enter the season with larger roles. Detroit also added veterans John Collins, Isaiah Joe and Taurean Prince during the offseason.
For Bickerstaff, those additions give the Pistons something they were searching for entering the offseason — more ways to attack opposing defenses.
“Shooting obviously is a big difference for us,” Bickerstaff said of the offseason moves. “When you’ve got guys that have proven in this league that they can carry weight and gravity, people are going to have to play them differently than they did in the past for us.
“Bringing in that experience, playoff experience, and have an understanding…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/pistons-embrace-challenge-hunted-team-230923638.html
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Publish date : 2026-09-28 23:09:00
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