Detroit Pistons: 3 players facing most pressure in 2019-20

3. Blake Griffin

Blake Griffin was far and away from the best player on this team last season. He didn’t get any MVP votes and the argument can be made that he should have gotten some for the work that he did.

He scored a career-high while still being an efficient shooter with a mark of 46.2 percent from the field, and his 3-point shooting percentage, 36.2 percent, combined with the volume, 7.0 attempts per game, were the best marks of his career.

As the year wore on though, he got tired, and injuries eventually caught up with him as a nagging knee injury slowed him down at the end of the season and in the playoffs.

The Detroit Pistons have tried to add some firepower around him this offseason in the form of Derrick Rose, Markieff Morris and Michael Beasley. At the end of the day though, this team lives and dies with the offense that Griffin can put forward.

He was often bringing the ball up last season, and he initiated the offense with his team-leading 5.4 assists per game. The Pistons overpaid to acquire Griffin when they initially got him, but he made that deal look a lot better with the way that he played last year.

If he’s able to replicate that level of play, it will continue to look good. If he struggles though, mortgaging their future for an aging and oft-injured star could start to bite them sooner rather than later.