The Charlotte Bobcats might have been the worst team in the league last year, but the Detroit Pistons weren’t a whole lot better off. Their poor free agency spending decisions from 2009 are still haunting them, but there are some really good young players coming up behind the aging veterans ready to take over the team. In fact, this might be the year when the guard officially changes.

HOOPSWORLD takes a look at the 2012-13 Detroit Pistons:

Five Guys Think…

The Detroit Pistons are simply stuck in the middle. They’re not bad enough to get into the top five of the draft, but they’re also not good enough to get into the top eight in the East. That doesn’t look like it’s going to change this season. At some point Pistons’ management is going to have to decide which direction they want to go in: a full-blown rebuild or a push for the playoffs by letting go of some of their young, most-attractive assets. Until that happens they’re bound to be inconsistent, but the growth of their young players should help them improve from last season. Their roster is filled with duplicate parts, which could cause problems in the locker room as some will not see the playing time they feel they deserve. If that happens, third place in the Central may even be out of the question. On the outset, though, it’s a realistic possibility.

3rd Place – Central Division

– Yannis Koutroupis
 

It’s tempting to think of the Detroit Pistons as one of the next young, emerging teams in the NBA. It’s tempting, but it’s also very hard to quantify that. Sure, a front court with Greg Monroe and Andre Drummond is interesting. Then again, there are still pieces like Charlie Villanueva and Rodney Stuckey that don’t seem to fit the big picture. The Pistons will be better than last season, but it’s hard to justify saying they will be markedly better. This team still needs a couple of trades and a better starting point guard before they can make a quantum leap forward.

5th Place – Central Division

– Bill Ingram
 

The Detroit Pistons have stockpiled young talent and continue to rebuild. This offseason, they were able to unload Ben Gordon for the expiring contract on Corey Maggette, while adding several more promising players such as Andre Drummond, Kim English, Kyle Singler and Khris Middleton. In the past, the Pistons have been a strange mix of young players and veteran contributors. Now, after parting ways with Gordon and putting an emphasis on developing their young talent, it seems the Pistons are heading in the right direction. It’ll likely be a few years before Detroit is competing for a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, but they have an excellent young nucleus for head coach Lawrence Frank to develop. They have young talent at every position and the future is bright in Detroit, even if the team will likely lose a lot of games in the short term.

5th Place – Central Division

– Alex Kennedy
 

The Pistons haven’t been a particularly exciting team the last few years, and I don’t have many expectations for that changing this year. Greg Monroe is probably one of the most underrated and underappreciated centers in the league (even though he’ll probably play a lot more power forward this year), and I’ll be curious to see how Andre Drummond does as a defensive presence alongside him. I still just feel like this team is too weird a mix of young prospects and aging veterans. What I really want them to do is go one way or the other. Dumping Ben Gordon for Corey Maggette’s expiring contract was one step in the right direction, and Ben Wallace finally (mercifully) retiring would be another. But until they can just run with their kids and grow them together as a core, I’m not buying this group as a playoff team. Right now, they’re not even close.

5th Place – Central Division

– Joel Brigham
 

For a fan base accustomed to winning at a high level, the 2013 edition of the Pistons doesn’t leave a lot of room for optimism – at those levels. However, there is talent on the roster with Greg Monroe and Brandon Knight expected to keep their promising development moving in the right direction. The acquisition of veteran forward and mentor Corey Maggette will help the team’s young core improve as professionals, an intangible which won’t appear in the nightly box score sheet (but needed just the same). Rookie center Andre Drummond, the No. 9 overall pick in this year’s draft, is full of talent but will need time to fully adjust to the NBA game. Another playoff-less season awaits the Detroit faithful.

5th Place – Central Division

– Lang Greene

Top Of The List

Top Offensive Player: Indiana Pacers center Roy Hibbert was named an NBA All-Star for the first time last season and ended up averaging 12.8 ppg and 8.8 rpg by year’s end, while Pistons center Greg Monroe finished his year averaging 15.4 ppg and 9.7 rpg. We’re not saying Hibbert didn’t deserve his spot on the All-Star team, because he most certainly did, but we are pointing out that returning there again this season might not be a sure thing with the way Monroe progressed in his sophomore campaign. Offensively, he can shoot from a reasonable distance and drives surprisingly well for a player his size. It’s not hard to imagine him averaging 20 ppg this season with so versatile an array of moves, and he should really establish himself as the team’s number one scoring option this upcoming season.

Top Defensive Player: Rookie center Andre Drummond could easily finish the year as the team’s best defensive player, but with so many questions about what kind of pro he’ll be, it seems safer to stick with Tayshaun Prince, who’s been the team’s best perimeter defender for years. His defensive numbers last year weren’t great (0.5 bpg, 0.4 spg), but he’s still the veteran leader for this team, particularly on that end of the floor.

Top Playmaker: Considering that he was one of the youngest players in the league as a rookie last season, 20-year-old Brandon Knight sure did a decent job assimilating himself to the NBA game rather quickly. He was an All-Rookie First Team selection for several reasons, but one of the most obvious was his playmaking ability, which should continue to get better this season. Because he’s already got a respectable three-point shot, his ability to penetrate has already proven to be pretty impressive. Today’s NBA point guard needs to play that inside-outside game, and Knight certainly has the potential to be great at both.

Top Clutch Player: You’d like this to be Rodney Stuckey, the team’s second-leading scorer last season, but injury problems last year really kept him from getting into any kind of groove until the last month or so of the regular season. Instead, the player on this team most willing to take the big shot is Prince, and since he’s the only player on this team with a ring that makes a reasonable amount of sense. Both Stuckey and Monroe should get more opportunities this year to be the team’s clutch player, however, because as of right now, no player really stands out as the guy you really need to have the ball in a close game’s waning minutes. It would also help if Detroit was involved in more close games that required someone to take over late.

The Unheralded Player: Jonas Jerebko started for the Pistons as a rookie and actually put up pretty good numbers. Then he ruptured his Achilles early in his sophomore campaign and slowly worked his way back into the rotation as a third-year player. Because of that missed season, and because too few people follow the Pistons closely on a national level, the average basketball fan doesn’t get an opportunity to see how good this kid is. Jerebko brings a ton of energy and a really versatile game off the bench. His ability to knock down threes and step it up on defense makes him one of the most valuable reserves Detroit has.

The Best New Addition: The addition of Corey Maggette is a good one for Detroit on two fronts. On the one hand, it would be pretty easy to argue that he’s an upgrade over Ben Gordon, for whom he was traded, but only if he can stay healthy. Secondly, Maggette’s $10.9 million expiring contract is a heck of a lot more attractive than the $25.6 million Ben Gordon is owed over the course of the next two seasons. On both fronts, the Maggette deal looks like a good one for the Pistons.

– Joel Brigham

Who We Like

1. Greg Monroe: As the Pistons’ top scorer last season, it’s hard not to like this guy. If there’s a young player on this roster that Detroit can build around moving forward, it’s absolutely him. It will be particularly interesting to see how effective he’ll be playing more power forward this year, and if rookie Andre Drummond can supplement him defensively like the team envisioned when they drafted him, Monroe should look better than ever.

2. Brandon Knight: He’s young and still has a lot to learn, but Knight’s rookie season with the Pistons was definitely a positive one. He finished third on the team in scoring with 12.8 ppg, and actually finished tied in first for assists per game, too, though the actual number (3.8 apg) isn’t quite what you’d expect to see from a starting point guard. He’ll get better, though, and Pistons fans are certainly looking forward to seeing him do exactly that.

3. Jonas Jerebko: Two things a team absolutely must have from its bench unit are energy and defense, and Jerebko is a great source of both. While 8.7 ppg and 4.8 rpg aren’t exactly earth-shattering numbers, he brings more to this team than statistics. His role isn’t likely to expand with Monroe sliding over to play more minutes at the four and Maggette coming in to leach minutes at the three, but when he is in the game, this fan favorite will definitely do his part.

4. Kim English: Despite being a rookie, English is going to be asked to play pretty big minutes right away in a thin backcourt, but based on the way he’s impressed the coaching staff so far, that might not be a bad thing. He proved to be a very steady three-point shooter at Mizzou, and best of all, he really, really wanted to end up with the Pistons on draft night. This should be a great fit for him, and fans may be surprised how effective he is very early in his first NBA season.

5. Kyle Singler: Another rookie, Singler actually spent last season in Spain so that he didn’t have to risk missing a year of development due to the lockout. He would’ve been one of the more experienced players in last year’s draft class anyway, but he’s certainly among the most mature rookies this year with four years of college and a season overseas under his belt. Singler had a good summer league, and the team has very high hopes for him moving forward.

– Joel Brigham

Strengths

Not a whole lot, honestly. Monroe and Knight offer a promising future, and as a team last year the Pistons were respectable shooting the three and were okay defensively, but there’s no questioning the fact that this group has a long, long way to go. Some may consider youth a strength, since so many of Detroit’s young players look like they could turn into something special, but they’re just not quite there yet.

– Joel Brigham

Weaknesses

Conversely, the biggest issue with this team is its lack of experience. So many of the major players on the roster have only been in the league a short time, and as many as five rookies could actually make the opening day roster. Head coach Lawrence Frank has proven he can work wonders with underachieving veteran groups, but developing young players may prove to be more challenging for him. What this group needs is time to grow together, and there’s really no way to speed that particular process along.

– Joel Brigham

What Needs To Be Said On Opening Day….

After a rough start, we were able to build some momentum to end last season. In Andre, Kim and Khris and Kyle, we’ve added some new faces to help us move forward. Tayshaun, with your experience, we need you set the tone for what is needed to play defense at an elite level in the NBA. And it’s on you, Rodney and Brandon, to anchor our backcourt and put an emphasis on sharing the ball. This team can’t rely on one-on-one play for its success. But most importantly, we can’t afford to get overly caught up in the results. We will weather our rough stretches by making a conscience effort to be the grittiest team in the league. This season, let’s make sure we make sure to focus solely on the process and let the results take care of themselves.

– Anthony Macri and Brett Koremenos

The Burning Question

Does Joe Dumars know what he’s doing?

For a while, Joe Dumars seemed like an NBA genius by assembling one of the few championship teams in the modern era to win a title without a superstar. But in the years since then his moves have been very up and down, and what we’re left with is a roster spread between a youth movement and the remnants of the old guard. The master plan is cloudier now than it has been in a while, but Pistons fans are stuck with Dumars anyway. Hopefully the kids he’s drafting continue to work out, because the last couple of lottery picks have, in fact, been pretty good ones.

– Joel Brigham