The Detroit Pistons have been active this summer. After a disappointing playoff exit, the Pistons made an effort to revamp the roster. There will be new faces like Isaiah Joe, John Collins, and Ebuka Okorie, but did the Pistons do enough to solve the weaknesses that plagued them last season?
The two most glaring weaknesses for the Pistons were shooting and playmaking. GM Trajan Langdon said this clearly ahead of the 2026 NBA Draft: “Spacing the floor is huge and just giving more optionality on the offensive end to have more creativity. When you have multiple ball-handlers and more shooting on the floor that opens it up for our three best players. Those are things we’re looking at."
This was obvious for anyone who paid attention to the Pistons last season. They had an elite defense and a high-level transition offense, but when the game slowed down, Detroit struggled to create good shots.
This was because there weren't great shot creators outside of Cade Cunningham or enough spacing around to help him generate those shots.
How good a job did the Pistons do to address these needs?
Pistons additions don't move the needle enough in terms of offensive firepower
On paper, they added more ball-handling and shooting. Okorie can work as a secondary ballhandler and playmaker who can run second units or play next to Cunningham. Joe is one of the most underrated shooters in the league and should make over 40% from downtown on high volume. The Pistons also hope that Collins is an upgrade over Harris in terms of shooting.
In reality, how much better the Pistons are in those areas is unclear. While Okorie has the correct skill set, he is an undersized 19-year-old point guard. The Summer League has shown that he may be a year or two away from being a capable rotation player.
Joe will help as a shooter, but his offensive game is limited beyond shooting. Having another elite shooter you can run plays for will be useful, but a player who is a little more dynamic with the ball in his hands would have been preferable.
Whether Collins is an offensive upgrade over Harris remains to be seen. He is a better athlete and a finisher around the basket. He could be a decent pick-and-roll partner for Cunningham if Detroit can put enough shooting around them. However, even though he hit over 40% from downtown last season, he doesn't take a lot of threes and has limited versatility to his shot.
Okorie is unlikely to be in the rotation when the season starts. It will presumably be Daniss Jenkins getting the backup point guard minutes. Joe will likely come off the bench behind Duncan Robinson. If Chaz Lanier is also in the rotation, that could be an excellent trio of shooters.
The issue is that the rest of the rotation remains unchanged. There is still a glaring lack of shooting from the small forward position. Assuming Jalen Duren comes back, the Pistons will have at least two non-shooters on the floor at all times. A team that has Ausar Thompson and Duren as part of their starting and closing lineups should have added way more shooting and ball-handling.
This is unfortunately too similar to the team that lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers in Round 2. The offensive upgrades have been too marginal to get excited about the team's prospects next season.
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