Hunt Baker

Depth is vital to success. Depth for continued pressure. Depth for sustainability, given the risk of injuries. Depth for even practices is important to bring out the best of everyone. Harmony or complementary play, or perhaps synergy is vital to a team's play too. I read where there is a real risk the team lost some of its identity this off-season. Hardaway, Beasley, and Schroder will definitely be missed.

I've been playing with Perplexity AI a bit on a variety of topics. Today I decided to ask for its insight into just how the NBA season might shake out - no surprise OKC projected to win 62 games! Our Pistons were at 45.5 wins though, so not too bad. Still, I wanted to know what it would say were keys to further improvement and greater upside. There really weren't any surprises. Cunningham, Ivey, and Duren were cited as being keys - with continued improvement on both offense and defense.

Every year the team gets new players but there are also some second year players that you wonder if they can take the next step and become relevant, if not even impactful. We've had quite a few in the past. Some that spring to mind include Isaiah Livers, Luke Garza, Bruce Bowen, and Spencer Dinwiddie. Not all of these players became stars in Detroit, let alone even real contributors, but I think they show that it's possible that talent might arrive from outside of the first round.