Detroit Pistons: 4 keys to success this season

The Detroit Pistons aren’t going to have a championship run or anything grand like that, but that doesn’t mean they can’t have a successful season.

The Detroit Pistons are finally beginning their long-overdue rebuilding process. New general manager Troy Weaver has turned over the roster and only a handful of players from last season’s 20-46 team remain, and the building blocks of the future appear to be in place.

Not every team can contend for a championship, but every team can set their own realistic goals for success. For some teams, that means making the playoffs, for others, it means winning a first-round series. In the case of the Pistons, they’ll have their own set of goals to validate what they accomplish in the 2020-21 season.

Let’s take a look at four main things that the organization needs to do in order to make this season a success.

Detroit Pistons Goal No. 1: Play “The Right Way”

If there’s one thing Weaver can be credited for this offseason, it’s building a physical, nasty and tough team that may not be very good, but they won’t give away much either. The Pistons have assembled a roster that fits this description, both in free agency and the NBA draft.

In particular, 16th overall draft pick Isaiah Stewart has the particular “Pistons grit” that Weaver was seeking this offseason. Between Stewart, fellow rookie Killian Hayes, newcomers Delon Wright, Jerami Grant and a host of others, it’s a roster constructed to play the right way in a city that was largely raised on the Bad Boys and the Going To Work Pistons.

Construction doesn’t mean much if the players brought in don’t execute this vision of being a tough team to play against for 48 minutes every night, so they’re going to have to follow through on the concept.