For the past six months, the Detroit Pistons have heard it all about their playoff failure.
A wave of roster changes and blockbuster trades in the Eastern Conference has all but relegated J.B. Bickerstaff’s crew to an afterthought in championship oddsmakers' minds. But have the pundits gotten it wrong, so far? Maybe, but based on Detroit’s early vacation from the postseason, it wasn’t a stretch to question their realistic title aspirations.
The team with the conference’s best regular-season record in 2025-26 needed seven games to beat the Orlando Magic in the first round after falling behind 2-0, then was bounced in the semifinals by the Cleveland Cavaliers, losing by 31 at home in Game 7.
An offseason of reflection revealed two obvious things:
averaging 117 points a game in the regular season means nothing without a competent outside shooter, and an extra ball handler would take the load off star Cade Cunningham, who doesn’t have to facilitate the offense on every possession.
The drama didn’t stop there, as Jalen Duren, who earned third-team All-NBA honors, was in a standoff with his contract before finally signing a five-year, $200 million extension before the season.
Detroit will have to do without the services of Duren for at least the next two weeks after he injured his hamstring, and forward Ausar Thompson, who led the league in steals and was an All-NBA First-Team All-Defensive pick, is nursing an ankle injury.
Despite that, the word fluke hasn’t been used this season, as Detroit has dispatched three teams considered their closest competition in the East with victories over the Boston Celtics, Miami Heat and Philadelphia 76ers, the last two on the road, while also vastly improving their 3-point shooting so far.
Last season, the Pistons hit only 36% of their shots from downtown, and in the first three games, that percentage has jumped to 42%. That kind of deadly accuracy isn’t sustainable over an 82-game season, but it will force teams to play the perimeter and respect any player who hovers around the 3-point line, especially when defending Duncan Robinson, who can fight off screens and bury long-range shots against uninterested, lazy defenders.
Cunningham, a first-team All-NBA selection, leads the team in scoring, assists, steals and blocks, all the while playing most possessions off the ball, but has been aided by the 32-year-old Robinson and John Collins, who signed a 3-year, $51 million deal in the offseason and brings another veteran presence who can hold down the fort should Thompson and Duren miss extended time. In the season's first three games, three different players have led the team in scoring.
"We're just staying steady. We're not getting ahead of ourselves,” Cunningham said after the 76ers victory. “The togetherness is there. We got a great system, we got the best coach in the league."
The early three-game road trip ends at Madison Square Garden against the New York Knicks, who are still seeking their first victory and are looking to avoid becoming the first defending champion to start the season 0-4 since the Boston Celtics in 1969, their first season without legend Bill Russell.
Detroit beat the Knicks in all three meetings last season, and it will be interesting to see if the Pistons can maintain their shooting touch and defensive intensity against a desperate New York squad that is back as an Eastern Conference favorite.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Pistons out to prove No. 1 seed was no fluke as they face champion Knicks
