Detroit Pistons: 3 reasons to be excited for 2018-19 season

2. A full season with Blake Griffin

When fully healthy, Griffin is a perennial All-Star. As his age and injuries have taken away some of his athleticism, he has added new wrinkles to his game. He has consistently been upping his 3-point attempts since averaging 0.4 attempts per game over his first six seasons.

His accuracy has also risen steadily since bottoming out at 12.5 percent in his second season. Although he isn’t a knockdown marksman like Kevin Love, he can be in the Serge Ibaka stretch-4 range at 36 percent.

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Griffin has the ability to initiate the offense out of the post with his passing ability. He averaged a career-high 6.2 assists last season. Luke Kennard and Reggie Bullock will most likely play more minutes this season. If they can maintain their shot-making, they will be good options for him to kick out to. Drummond is an underrated passing big, and Griffin makes the frontcourt duo even more versatile.

Griffin’s main enemy in his career has been his health. He hasn’t played 82 games since his first season. He played 80 games in his third and fourth seasons, but he hasn’t played more than 67 in a season since then. Last season, he only played 58.

While the team and its fans don’t expect him to play the full 82, it’s not unreasonable for him to play 70+ games. If Griffin is able to remain healthy this season, he has the ability to be the leader of this team under Casey.