Detroit Pistons: 3 midseason takeaways in 2018-19

1. There is still a long way to go

This goes without saying, but this team just is not as close as some people thought. After their early season success, they had some people fooled, but they have regressed back to the same league-average position they’ve been in the past. Due to their salary cap struggles, the team just didn’t have the ability to add real difference-makers in the offseason, and it’s showing right now when Griffin is the only consistent presence.

We’ve already talked about Jackson needing to go, but there are more candidates that could be gone sooner rather than later. With a first round pick that needs to be improved, the team could trade away players like Reggie Bullock or Langston Galloway to teams that need shooters or playmakers for their bench heading into the playoffs. Bottom line, the tank is coming, and they need to fully embrace it.

This team just isn’t constructed to compete with the best teams in the NBA right now. There isn’t enough shooting to space the floor for the team’s best players, and they don’t have the two-way wings that the league’s best teams have. If they had these modern essentials, maybe they wouldn’t be buried in the middle of the East and trending downward. Dwane Casey built the Toronto Raptors into an Eastern Conference power, but it took time — just like the Detroit Pistons will.