The Detroit Pistons had a very eyebrow raising starting lineup to open camp, that could give us an early indication of the philosophy that new coach JB Bickerstaff is looking to implement into the team. This may not be the official Opening Day lineup but we can certainly make inferences based upon what we see so far.

The two pretty obvious players were Tobias Harris and Cade Cunningham. Both individuals were looked at as locks to start this year and there isn’t much to discuss as far as what their role will be. The biggest surprise was Paul Reed starting over Jalen Duren. Duren is their young stud roll and cut style big, who dominated on the glass all last year as a starter. This move would suggest that the emphasis on interior defense is what JB Bickerstaff would like to establish. Paul Reed has shown promise in his relief of Star Center Joel Embid, whom he backed up in Philadelphia last year. The other fairly big surprise starter was Tim Hardaway, who is a Veteran spot up shooter that has vast experience working alongside Veteran scorers in his long career. Including the likes of Carmelo Anthony, Amar’e Stoudemire, and most recently Luka Doncic. The mildly surprising choice was Simone Fontecchio at the starting Small Forward Position. In his limited time playing with Cade Cunningham they had a seamless chemistry from the very beginning. Giving Detroit some of it’s best offensive output, albeit in the midst of the worst season in franchise history.

TAKEAWAYS

What you can gather about this lineup is that veteran leadership and floor spacing is going to be a major influence into how this team begins the year. The Detroit Pistons have been a very youthful team over the last few years and that lack of experience has reared it’s ugly head in the way of a lot of careless play.  Most evidently with turnovers. Detroit averaged the third most last year with 15.7 per game, but hope to clean up some of that play with 2 veteran players in the starting lineup who are 32 years of age. Also with the team surrounding Cade with much more offensive fire power from the outside, it will likely come at the cost of less defensive presence. This could explain why Paul Reed a top tier rim protector and creator of turnovers, is a vital implementation into the starting lineup.

POTENTIAL BENCH LINEUP

With the earliest starting 5 being displayed this is what a potential second unit could appear like:

PG: Jaden Ivey

SG: Malik Beasely

SF: Ausar Thompson

PF: Isaiah Stewart

C: Jalen Duren

This lineup highlights several players who received a multitude of playing time last year.  This unit also had the ability to gel and develop chemistry playing together. The lineup has a nice balance of interior and outside shooting as well as versatility defending the paint as well as the perimeter. Once again we don’t know if that initial starting lineup is set in stone but we can definitely begin to speculate what direction the team might want to work towards.