Pistons embrace new challenge as hunted team after 60-win season

DETROIT — For the past two seasons, the Detroit Pistons have been trying to prove they belong.

Now, the challenge is proving they can stay there.

After completing one of the league’s quickest turnarounds and winning 60 games a season ago, the Pistons arrived at Monday’s Media Day with a noticeably different set of expectations.

Detroit is no longer the young team trying to surprise people. After finishing atop the Eastern Conference and advancing to the conference semifinals, the Pistons enter this season knowing they will receive everyone’s best shot.

Head coach J.B. Bickerstaff, however, isn’t concerned with how the rest of the conference views Detroit — or what other contenders did during the offseason.

“Yeah, I mean, the East is good, obviously,” Bickerstaff said. “The amount of talent that’s flooded the East and the way the teams have been built and put together. But, you know, we don’t really give a [expletive] about what everybody else is doing. The only thing that matters to us is what we do.

“And we know what Pistons basketball looks like. So if we go out and play Pistons basketball, I like our chances versus anybody.”

While the biggest storyline surrounding the team remains the contract situation involving All-Star center Jalen Duren, Detroit otherwise returns much of the core responsible for last season’s success.

All-Star Cade Cunningham and rising star Ausar Thompson remain at the center of it, while players such as Paul Reed, Ron Holland II and Kevin Huerter could enter the season with larger roles. Detroit also added veterans John Collins, Isaiah Joe and Taurean Prince during the offseason.

For Bickerstaff, those additions give the Pistons something they were searching for entering the offseason — more ways to attack opposing defenses.

“Shooting obviously is a big difference for us,” Bickerstaff said of the offseason moves. “When you’ve got guys that have proven in this league that they can carry weight and gravity, people are going to have to play them differently than they did in the past for us.

“Bringing in that experience, playoff experience, and have an understanding of what is it that we’re trying to do. I think that experience along with their skill set is going to be helpful. Their ability to move off the ball, also carry gravity and make teams have to chase us, and not just sit and pack the paint. I think all of those things are going to be helpful.”

Pistons still awaiting Jalen Duren decision as training camp begins

Pistons president of basketball operations Trajan Langdon made one thing clear Monday: Detroit still wants Duren back.

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That versatility could become even more important for a team that knows opponents have spent the offseason searching for ways to slow it down.

President of basketball operations Trajan Langdon said Detroit’s offseason decisions weren’t made simply with another 60-win regular season in mind. Instead, the Pistons wanted to build a roster capable of giving Bickerstaff more answers when the postseason arrives.

“I think the East is much tougher than it was last year, not only with the acquisition of some players in certain markets, but also returning players that had injuries last year as well,” Langdon said. “I don’t know that any team in the East will exceed 60 wins just because it’s going to be that competitive.”

Langdon said the goal was to preserve the defensive identity that helped fuel Detroit’s success while adding more shooting, spacing and lineup flexibility.

“I do believe we’ve gotten better,” Langdon said. “Obviously, time will tell on the way that we play, the rotations we play, the five-man units that are on the floor at different times, but it was can we create more space, have more shooting, and give J.B. and his staff more versatility, more optionality, different lineups that you can play at different points in the game and in the season as well.”

For Cunningham, the additional shooting should create more space for both himself and his teammates.

“All of those things create advantages,” Cunningham said. “My job is trying to make as many advantages as I can for the team so that we can finish plays and score the ball.

“It’s a huge help, and it’s on me to make sure that I make their job easier as well and getting them good passes, allowing them space to score for us by beating somebody and getting them open shots.”

Detroit’s rise has happened quickly, and while only a few players remain from the 14-win team, several members of the current roster have experienced much of the climb.

Three seasons ago, the Pistons finished an NBA-worst 14-68.

A year later, Detroit improved to 44 wins, earned the No. 6 seed in the Eastern Conference and returned to the playoffs before falling to the New York Knicks in the opening round.

Last season brought another jump.

Detroit went 60-22, secured the No. 1 seed in the East and won its first playoff series since 2008. The Pistons’ season eventually ended one round later, when Cleveland eliminated them in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.

For Cunningham, each step — including the painful ones — has helped shape what comes next.

“Yeah, it’s another hurdle, another whatever you want to call it, that really made me look in the mirror and assess myself, assess the team, ways that I can help,” Cunningham said. “We wanted to go further than we did. We had a great regular season, but it taught us a lot as far as what playoff basketball is about and what it takes to be successful during that.

“So all those things happen for a reason and I definitely think myself, but all of us would be better for it.”

Thompson has experienced that climb alongside Cunningham.

The 23-year-old, who signed a five-year, $155 million extension this offseason, is now part of a Pistons core entering the season with heightened expectations rather than questions about whether it can compete.

For Thompson, looking back at where the group started only makes the transformation more striking.

“It’s crazy cause now it’s just me and Cade when we lost all of those games,” Thompson said. “We talk about it sometimes in the locker room, and it’s weird looking back at it. But when I think of it, I think of all the lessons I’ve learned and as a team, and applied those hardships and moved on and got better from them.

“First year we won 14 games, next year we made the playoffs and lost the first round. Last year we made the playoffs, won the first round and then lost the second round in seven. What we learned from that is we have to be ready to play seven games. I just feel like we’ll keep taking it further and defy expectations.”

Those expectations are different now.

The Pistons won’t enter this season as one of the league’s surprise teams, nor will opponents need to be convinced that Detroit belongs among the East’s best.

After 60 wins, a No. 1 seed and a trip to the conference semifinals, the target has shifted.

The Pistons spent the last two seasons hunting.

Now, they’ll find out how they respond when they’re the ones being hunted.