Pistons vs. Bulls preview: The start of another season

SB Nation

I wrote the preview for opening day last year, and things were not as optimistic, given the disastrous season the Detroit Pistons were recovering from. Even in my wildest dreams, I did not see the kind

of season the Pistons had last year coming together. Tripling their win total from the season before, making the playoffs, and providing real hope and enthusiasm for the future.

Not only did the Pistons make the playoffs, but they gave the New York Knicks a legitimate run for their money. Now, they enter the 2025-26 NBA season with expectations to not only build off of that magical season, but even start to compete with the upper-echelon of the conference.

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It all starts tonight with a road game against the Chicago Bulls. In years past, the Bulls were a team the Pistons struggled with, despite the Bulls being a constant in the Play-In Tournament. Last year, the Pistons exercised some of the Chicago Bulls-related demons and even put together one of the biggest blowout wins the league has ever seen back in February.

The Pistons have a chance to start out their season on a positive note and avoid a similar start to what they had last year. They are going to need it if they hope to compete in the Eastern Conference this season.

Game Vitals

When: 8 p.m. ET
Where: United Center in Chicago, Illinois
Watch: Fan Duel Sports Network Detroit
Odds: Pistons -4.5

Analysis

The Pistons just can’t seem to get out of their own way when it comes to injuries to their young core to start the season. Last year, it was Ausar Thompson missing the start of the season as he recovered from a blood clot. During his rookie season, it was Cade Cunningham missing the start of the season. The latest player to be afflicted with the young player curse is Jaden Ivey, as he will miss at least the first month of the season after having a procedure on his knee to relieve discomfort.

The knee injury is supposedly unrelated to the broken leg he suffered last season, which I am not sure is a good or bad thing. It is a tough blow for a player looking to show he fits with a Pistons team that ascended last year with him out of the lineup.

To add to the discouragement of this injury, the Pistons lost both Malik Beasley and Tim Hardaway Jr. in the offseason, and their free agent replacement, Caris LeVert, is probable tonight with an injury of his own. I would anticipate that he plays, but Marcus Sasser is also injured and unlikely to play. You could see two-way guard Daniss Jenkins get some minutes, which he definitely earned with his performance during the Preseason.

Luckily, the Bulls will be without their leading scorer, Coby White, as he recovers from a calf injury. The Bulls were already a team that looked destined to take a bit of a step back from last season, and missing one of their best players will not help.

They were able to come to a late agreement with Josh Giddey to keep him around for the next four years. He will get his chance to run the show by himself for at least a few weeks while White is out.

The Bulls have not had many promising young players over the years, but they certainly have one now in Matas Buzelis. Buzelis has become a very popular pick for Most Improved Player this season, which kind of defeats the purpose of the award, but it does show that expectations are high for the second-year player.

Outside of those two, there really isn’t a whole lot going for the Bulls. They have Nikola Vucevic, who was once a very solid starting center, but is past his prime. However, he has given the Pistons fits with his ability to stretch the floor, so Jalen Duren is going to need to be careful.

For the Pistons, it is all about getting momentum going early. Some of their injuries and losses during the offseason will force Cade Cunningham to take on an even larger role offensively. If we are basing it on preseason play, he appears ready to handle it, as the fifth-year guard put together an impressive display of offense in limited minutes.

The loss of Beasley and Hardaway’s shooting is going to hurt the Pistons, even if they did their best to patch things together after their deal with Beasley fell through due to gambling allegations. On the surface, Duncan Robinson and Caris LeVert shoot a similar percentage, but they don’t have near the gravity or ability to put up the volume as those two did. They do bring more in other areas like creation for others, which should help the Pistons, but unless some of the young players make a jump shooting the ball, their downfall this season could be a lack of shooting.

Cade Cunningham and Ron Holland’s leap in shooting from beyond the arc could be the most important development of this season.

This is very much a winnable game for the Pistons, but the first few weeks of the season can always be weird. Some teams that will finish at the bottom of the standings may win their first 3 or 4 games or a team that finishes near the top starts out 1-5. The Pistons haven’t been good for long enough to overlook any team, so they need to play with the same level of grit defensively as they did last year for all 82 games.

Projected Lineups