Detroit Pistons: 5 takeaways from the first 5 games

The Detroit Pistons are finally on the board with a win after beating the Boston Celtics. Let’s take a look at what we’ve learned in their first five games.

It feels better to be 1-4 than 0-5, or so the saying goes. The Detroit Pistons reached that lofty mark with an upset win over the Boston Celtics on Friday, dominating early and hanging on by the skin of their teeth late to pick up the 96-93 victory.

They might not be winning games, but this is a Pistons team that will take advantage of your lulls and make you work to beat them. What they lack in outright talent and experience, they make up for in sheer effort. If you have to watch a bad team play basketball, this is a pretty good version of bad basketball to watch as the Pistons finally have a squad full of energetic try-hards who live to make your life miserable on the court.

In the early goings of the season, we’ve learned plenty about this team, so let’s dig into our five takeaways from the first five games of the season.

1. Newcomers are overachieving for the Detroit Pistons

We all had a good laugh at the Detroit Pistons when free agency began. Lord knows I sure did. $25 million for Mason Plumlee? And a TRADE KICKER? Absolutely ludicrous. However, maybe Troy Weaver was onto something. The newcomers on this roster have nearly universally overachieved, at least the ones who were brought aboard to contribute on the floor.

Plumlee has demonstrated some much-needed playmaking ability. Josh Jackson is suddenly the player the Phoenix Suns believed him to be when they picked him fourth in the 2017 NBA draft. And Jerami Grant? More on him later. The point here is that whether by design or by dumb luck, these offseason additions have more than acquitted themselves through the first five games.

And that goes for a couple of rookies as well, as we’ll see next.