Oklahoma City and Detroit Offseason guides

The Oklahoma City Thunder had a tremendous season. They earned the No. 1 overall seed in the western conference. After making the play-in two seasons ago, the Thunder blew past pre-season expectations and were able to win the toughest conference in the NBA. The Thunder as a team had the 3rd best offensive rating and the 4th best defensive rating. This results in them having the 2nd best net rating in the NBA. Along with improving on offense, the big reason the Thunder were able to win the western conference in the regular season was their defense, especially their ball pressure. They forced the most turnovers this year at 15.7 per game, which keyed their transition offense. Overall, this was the biggest change on the defensive side of the ball. They have a collection of long versatile wings that can get out in the passing lanes and pressure the ball from distance. Notably Lu Dort, Jalen Williams, and Chet Holmgren were their best defensive players this season. On top of a stout defense, they were the number one 3pt shooting team in the league at 38.6%. This is especially surprising considering they were 16th in attempts per game meaning they weren’t shooting a ton this year. At the head of the offense is all NBA first teamer Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. 

Gilgeous-Alexander had another spectacular year. He averaged 30 ppg, breaking the Thunder single-season record for most 30 point games in a season. He led the league in steals. He also proved that he can close out important games in the playoffs this year after getting his first taste. He's an absolute killer in the mid range game and is super slippery with the ball in his hands. He does not take many threes at all making his scoring output more impressive. He improved his playmaking this year as well making him a more well rounded player on offense. On defense, he is a good defender in the passing lanes and has great hands. He, however, is not a great on ball defender. While he led the league in steals, so did Steph Curry and Allen Iverson and neither have ever been considered great or even good defenders in their careers. The noticeable difference between him and these two players is that he is 6 '6 and not a smaller guard like Curry and Iverson. Nonetheless, Oklahoma City has the pieces around him to cover up for his gambles on steals. Shai saw his ranking amongst players rise quite a bit this year. Many in the media believe he was amongst the top 5 players in the league. He’s earned the right to be talked about in these conversations. He’s a late game killer with the ball in his hands and can make any type of mid range shot. His playoff run validated that. He played well against the Pelicans as the Thunder swept them in the first round and personally, I think he outplayed Luka Doncic in the Thunder series. He’s a big time player that had no trouble rising to the playoff moments in his first postseason. 

Jalen Williams had a breakout sophomore year this past season. After having a great rookie campaign that saw him earn first team all rookie honors, he made an even bigger jump than expected that season. He averaged close to 20 ppg and improved all of his shooting percentages. He’s arguably the most versatile defender on the Thunder and was asked to guard anyone positioned 1-4. He’s a real two way threat with All-Star potential in the future. However, he did struggle in the postseason. His defense was good, but he struggled on offense. He couldn’t find his rhythm in the postseason and never had a stellar shooting performance. He played well against  the Pelicans, but if the Thunder are to make a deeper postseason run, he’ll need to give Shai Gilgeous-Alexander some more help. 

Chet Holmgren was the mystery box that helped unlock the Thunder defense this past season. Sam Presti took the Gonzaga player in the 2022 draft second overall, but a foot injury playing in a pro-am game over the summer caused him to miss the entire 2022-2023 season. He returned this season and his impact was felt right away. The 7 '1 shot blocker made his defensive presence felt in the paint and he gave the Thunder some floor spacing on offense with his shooting ability. Given that this was technically considered his rookie season, it was phenomenal. He finished second in rookie of the year voting and was first team All-Rookie. Along with Williams, he struggled shooting the ball in the postseason as well, but the Thunder are a young team who blew past their preseason expectations. Holmgren’s rim protection allowed for the wings to play aggressively without the worry of giving up easy baskets. He’ll be a part of this Thunder team for a long time. 

As great as the Thunder season was, they still had some down moments in the postseason. Losing to Dallas in 6 games ended their season. They were favored going into the series. The Josh Giddy experiment flamed out in a public matter in the series; he was seemingly unplayable in the series. Gordon Hayward was acquired as a veteran presence that could provide some scoring punch off the bench, but he did not score at all in 46 postseason minutes. I’d expect him to be traded away this offseason. Sam Pesti has already been making moves since the end of the season. He dealt away Giddy for Alex Caruso in a move that gave OKC some more shooting and wing defense. He will fit like a glove next to the core of Gilgeous-Alexander, Williams and Holmgren. Some needs for the Thunder include getting some shooting. Yes, this is surprising for a team who led the league in shooting but their 3 point attempts are still very low. Getting a high end shooter to really scare defenses could help. Depth on the wing will help as well as they have some young guys who played well this past season. The biggest need is getting a center to play for or next to Holmgren at times. The Thunder were 28th in rebounding this past season. They were undersized when playing Williams at the 4 making it hard to grab defensive rebounds. Overall, the future is bright for OKC. They have 33 picks over the next 7 years! They also have $33 million in cap space, but need to be smart considering Shai, Williams, and Holmgren will all get new deals over the next 2 seasons. Overall, the Thunder have a great future with their assets and current young players. 

The Detroit Pistons are the next team to get an offseason guide and, holy crap, this will be interesting. For starters, they fired Monty Williams after the team went 14-68 this season. They gave him a 6 year, $78 million deal this past season and dismissed him after just one season. There aren’t a lot of bright spots for Detroit outside of having young players. They were near the bottom of the league in nearly every category and they seemingly have no direction right now as a franchise. Priority number 1 needs to be finding a head coach that fits the timeline of this roster. They need to find a creative mind that is in tune with what each player’s strengths are. Monty Williams struggled with this as he played some interesting lineups. Notably, he benched Jaden Ivy for Killian Hayes at the beginning of the year, a move that didn’t make any sense considering Ivy was the much better player and someone that needed to develop on the offensive and defensive side of the ball. Hayes is no longer on the roster and Williams is no longer the head coach. 

The only noticeable bright spot for Detroit is they have Cade Cunningham. He’s a dynamic 6’8 point guard who has a great feel for the game. He moves extremely well for his size. He struggled in the beginning of his rookie season, but played extremely well in the back half. He was drafted in 2021 and was third in rookie of the year voting in 2021-2022. He then missed almost the entire season in 2022-2023 with a shin injury. This injury did not help Cunningham’s development timeline. The Pistons have put a lot of emphasis on the importance of Cunningham developing into a 6’8, three level scoring playmaker. He needs to be someone who can also make plays for everyone else on the floor as well as put the ball in the basket at any spot. With that being said, the ability for him to reach this level is possible and I think something that will happen. He’s had some monster games this past season and has shown improvement in all these categories. Typically, point guards in the NBA take a little bit longer to develop considering the importance of their position, but he is the one player the Pistons have that can affect their timeline the most.  

Outside of Cunningham, they have Jaden Ivy, Ausar Thompson, and Jalen Duren. This collection of young players is the current core they will build with for the future. They selected Ron Holland Wednesday night during the NBA draft to help pair with this set of players. Ivy is a younger guard who is super athletic and energetic on the floor. He has started to develop some type of shooting touch, but it is in the very early stages. It is important for him to really develop this piece of his game in order to help Cade Cunningham operate in space. Thompson was the 5th overall pick in the 2023 draft for the Pistons. He started the year off really strong grabbing a bunch of rebounds and finished well in the paint. He is also a versatile defender that allows the Pistons to put him in a multitude of positions on the defensive end. Jalen Duren is an exciting young big for the Pistons. He’s super strong and offers some inside scoring out of the post. He averaged a double-double throughout his 128 career NBA games. He’s not a great shot blocker, but is good enough in the pick and roll to offer some inside defense for the Pistons. 

The Pistons were terrible this past season. They went 14-68 and had the worst record in the league. On top of that they fell to fifth in the lottery, which brings up an interesting topic. The lottery has completely transformed how serious a team rebuilds its roster. Having the worst record no longer guarantees you getting the No.1 overall pick. There’s a fear that your team does slide out of position to get a generational talent. The Pistons luck in recent drafts hasn’t been great. They have the worst winning percentage over the last three years and have only 3 fifth overall picks to show for it. Now, they drafted Cunningham in the 2021 draft and that's the type of player everyone wants in the league today, but putting pieces around him has been extremely difficult for the team. The Pistons have quite possibly every need a team could have. Shooting, bench depth, shot creator, and a need for depth at every position on the roster. The Pistons this season, along with a couple other teams, have a ton of cap space. They’ll be a destination for teams to dump players with bad contracts and gain draft capital in the process. The Pistons need to retool their roster around Cunningham and trade away players they feel don’t have a spot in their future plans. The next big offseason move they’ll have is extending Cade Cunningham to his rookie max extension. Outside of this, there’s nothing on the immediate horizon for the team. Overall, hiring a head coach will be the first thing they need to get right in order to take the step forward. This should be their top priority this offseason along with focusing on the development of their younger players. The next couple of seasons will be important for the Pistons as they look to regain their spot in the playoffs. 

As always, any updates that occur after the release of this article will be updated prior to the NBA season.