The Detroit Pistons might be a nasty team
The Detroit Pistons probably won’t be very good this season, but they won’t be any fun to play against either. The theme for the preseason has been physical toughness and playing with an edge, almost to the point of crossing it. In addition to Griffin’s discard of Bryant, Josh Jackson took Wizards’ star Bradley Beal to the ground in a physical defensive sequence and there were multiple exchanges of players yapping at each other throughout the game.
It’s been a while since a Pistons squad has played with a nasty edge like this one has displayed in the early goings, but this is basically what this roster was built to do. Most assuredly they’re going to lose plenty of games this season, but they will not be soft, and they won’t be laying down for anybody.
Between Griffin, Jackson (who scored 17 points, by the way), and players like Killian Hayes and Isaiah Stewart (who got ejected after the buzzer in Game 2 against the Knicks but didn’t get much run on Thursday), it’s a hard-nosed and tenacious squad to say the least.
We’ll see how that takes shape when the regular season begins, but the structure and roster are certainly there.