This Completely Changes the Pistons Season...

Two Pistons starters limped off the floor versus the Miami Heat on Friday night. The same game, one quarter apart. And when it was over, the coach had nothing for us. No diagnosis, no timeline, not for the center Detroit just paid $200 million and not for the most important defender on the team. Then Saturday, the first answer came. Jalen Duren has a right hamstring strain, and he's ruled out for Sunday's game in Philadelphia. Ausar Thompson, questionable. The Pistons won that game 128-111, a 17 point win, and I think that might be the most misleading scoreboard of this season. Because depending how long this hamstring injury keeps Jalen Duren out, and the injury to Ausar Thompson's ankle, this changes everything for the Pistons season, their depth, their defense, it changes it all. But this is what we know, and we know who steps in, but not knowing certain things is the scariest part. Start with Duren. Second quarter, about 6:45 left. He drives, and suddenly he grabs his right leg. He walks straight into the locker room. The Pistons call it a right thigh injury, and at first they list him as questionable to return. He never came back. Before he left, he had 4 points and 6 rebounds, and on Saturday, that thigh injury got a name, a right hamstring strain. Third quarter, 6:37 left. Ausar Thompson steps on Andrew Wiggins' heel, appears to roll his right ankle and limps off. He doesn't return either. Ausar finishes the game with four points, four assists, and three rebounds in 19 minutes, and before he went down, he stayed in the game to guard Giannis. After the game, JB Bickerstaff had no injury update on either of them. Saturday's injury report is where it got real. Duren out for Sunday at Philadelphia, a star questionable. And the scoreboard makes this harder to read. Detroit built an early lead on hot three-point shooting and the game was never close. Yahoo's headline was they leaned on the three ball to win after both of them left. That's a nice story for one night. It's not a plan for a season. A bad night's scare and a bad news injury looked exactly the same over the first 24 hours the same limp the same locker room the no update the scariest part is the only update we have is the hamstring so that's it two starters two lower body injuries with no timeline on a return this puts you in the situation of going by a game by game basis and not knowing the true outcome or what is happening behind the scenes and i'm not a doctor and the Detroit Pistons haven't said the severity of either of these injuries but we know with hamstrings they come in grades and with ankles this could be one day or one night and I'm not going to pretend that I know exactly what happens. But let's start with Jalen Duren because the timing couldn't be more strange for a guy that just signed five years 200 million dollars this offseason. Jalen Duren's cap hit this season is 40.2 million dollars and in the opener against Boston, that's exactly the player you saw. 22 points on 8 of 13 shooting, with 9 rebounds. Our scouting profile has him as a rim attacker who lives in the paint. That's the engine of the offense. When Cade Cunningham needs something simple, it's the big man at the rim. Detroit Sports Nation called him one of the key pieces alongside Cade Cunningham, and that's the point. The best version of this Pistons team has Cade Cunningham running the offense, with Duren at the rim. Right now, nobody can say when that version is back. Here's the part that matters. The big is a position that you cannot fake. You can slide a point guard to the shooting guard position, you can move a forward to PF, but you cannot replace a big man with the rim protection and the aspects that he brings to the game. Sunday is already settled, he's out for that game, and it's going to be the third game of the season. But now looking at this, it's not the worry of how many games he's going to miss, but how he comes back as the same player with the Pistons having aspirations to win a championship. So the Pistons can't rush Jalen Duren back, but they also cannot go a long period of time without their big man. Both of these can be true at the same time, and you need to figure out that squeeze. Now to Asara Thompson, and I'll say it plainly. This is one that people are underrating. You can go a time and a stretch without a center, but you can't go without Asara Thompson. Remember what happened right after Jalen Duren went down? Asara slid over to guard Giannis. Got a steal and turned it into an alley-oop for Cade. That's his job. He guards the best player on the other team. He makes the plays. And he doesn't need the ball to matter. In the opener against Boston, he had 11 points, 11 rebounds, and 5 assists. Look at the Miami line again. 4 points in 19 minutes. Nobody sees that and panics. That's exactly what makes it so dangerous. because his value isn't just coming from the scoring column. Behind him on our depth chart at small forward, it goes Ron Holland, then Chaz Lanier. Both real NBA players, neither is Asara. And here's what we know about Sunday. He's listed as questionable. That beats being ruled out. One report even suggests Detroit might just need to rest him, which would put Ron Holland in the spotlight. Here's my honest concern. A depth chart is a list of names. A defense is a system, and that system is him. When you take Asar Thompson out of this lineup, someone that covers for other people's mistakes, and this defensive system is built around, that is the biggest problem. And remember where this team came from. Last season, the Pistons had the second highest ranked defense in the NBA. A 108.9 defensive rating. Through two games this season, they're 15th at 110.3. That's with both Asar Thompson and Jalen Duren playing. Think about that for a minute. And that's the part the box score hides. a defense that sits 15th through two games with a star on the floor is not going to get better without him. The only question is how much worse it gets and for how long. Now the part that everyone's going to talk about, which is depth at center. Something that a lot of people have looked at this offseason and something the Pistons are now going to have to utilize with no practice or plan. At center, the depth chart goes. Jalen Duren, Paul Reed, Tulu Smith, and you got that. four centers, and the top one is out Sunday. And Paul Reed has already answered the first question. In Miami, after Jalen Duren left, he had 19 points and 11 rebounds in 26 minutes. Now he's expected to start in Philadelphia. Ron Holland had 23 points too. He can slide into the center position during stretches, and that's the answer for a night against the Heat. Jenkins ran the offense well in Miami too, and the side has Holland next in line behind Assara. So the bench isn't empty, It's just untested over a stretch. John Collins, after the game, said it himself. We have true depth. Not only that, we have young legs, young hungry guys. Great quote, but this is a player back in his own team. Sunday is the evidence. But Miami's not every team. One writer put it in the way, Collins at center is not ideal against teams that play multiple big centers. And every minute he plays at the five is minutes someone else has to play at the four. And here's the problem with Pistons. The Pistons are $29.5 million over the salary cap, with a payroll of $194 million. Any trade has to send salary out, so that is not easy. So I'll put it this way, depth isn't how many names are on a depth chart, it's how this team steps up with two key players out of the lineup. So let me give you three ways this can go, and these are not reports, this is just how this situation can truly play out. First though, there's the Sunday test. With this test coming, Jalen Duren's out for Sunday's game, and we could see a Sarah Thompson who covers for everyone else not being the lineup heading into Philadelphia for their game versus LeBron James, Joel Embiid, and other names. Or one which everyone's hoping for, it's Miner. They miss a game or two, they're back before anyone remembers, and the Pistons are 2-0 with a 17-point win in Miami. Last season, they posted a .732 win percentage, third best in the NBA. in this scenario the team that comes back door two which is a few weeks and this is the scariest one in my opinion because in a few weeks you're not able to go out and justify making moves but you're now looking at the roster without those two names on it and trying to make it work door three it's long and this is not just the one that just changes your entire season but it also ruins the complete ceiling and i want to be very clear no one is saying this is a long term but with the no answers, one player questionable, and the other player out, we don't know the severity of this injury just yet. What do I actually watch for? Three things. One, which is Ausar Thompson's status for Sunday. Duren is already out, and this is the answer we're still waiting on. If Ausar sits two, we learn who Bickerstaff trusts. Paul Reed. He expected to start Sunday. If he holds up, the fourth questions get a lot smaller. If he doesn't, Cullen slides over, and that's a very different team. And number three is Cade. Because with both of these guys out, the offense and the defense lean on him. He doesn't get to have a quiet night anymore. So here's where I land on this. If it's a week, it doesn't change anything. If it's a month, it makes you test a lot of things. If it's longer than that, it completely changes your season. And after Friday's game, we don't have an answer on which one it will be. And again, I want to be as positive as possible around this entire situation but fans let me know your thoughts down in the comments on these injuries what is your thoughts on John Collins at the five in a small ball lineup and if you made it this far hit that free subscribe it means the absolute world shout out to you guys I've been your host Mark Pye and take care Pistons fans