Three strengths the Detroit Pistons can build on after the first month of the season

The 2025-2026 Detroit Pistons have given us a large enough sample size of games to determine what their strengths and weaknesses.

Cade Cunningham has emerged as a leader on and off the court. The team is buying into the wisdom being fed to them by head coach JB Bickerstaff. Young players are having breakout seasons and veterans are shining in their roles.

The Pistons are still sitting at the very top of the Eastern conference with 19 wins and five losses. The team is enjoying success, but there's still areas to improve on. A small winning streak in the beginning of the season may be a fluke, but a 13-game winning streak combined with 19 wins throughout the first 24 games of the regular season is not an accident.

Jalen Duren is doing what so few have done before

The best season by a Pistons big man didn't come from Rasheed Wallace, Bill Laimbeer, Andre Drummond, or even Ben Wallace. You have to look at just two other big men in NBA history who have done what Pistons center Jalen Duren is doing in his fourth NBA season.

Bob Lanier and Blake Griffin are on the short list of Pistons big men to average 18 points for a whole season while wearing a Pistons jersey. The list shortens to just Lanier when you include Pistons who have achieved 18 points and 11 rebound averages for an entire season. Assuming Duren continues his performance for the rest of the season, you can add him to the short list as well. He's etching his name into Detroit basketball history game by game. Except Duren hasn't just improved as a scorer.

Duren's ability to protect the rim is extremely valuable in a league where layups and three-point shots dominate so much of the volume. Duren's ability to alter shots within the paint will be crucial. The Pistons center is also on pace to join team Cade Cunningham in the All-Star game this season. His style of play not only leads to winning, but it perfectly fits Detroit basketball and helps define an entire identity.

Duncan Robinson is one of the most valuable players in the NBA

Robinson has proved this season he wasn't a product of a Miami Heat system. His style of plays travels and Detroit is grateful for every basket.

The Pistons ranked low in major shooting categories. They're ranked 19th in three-point efficiency and 28th in three-point attempts. Detroit cannot carry those averages into the NBA playoffs and expect to reach the NBA Finals. The team also ranks 12th in pace which probably should still be higher considering the youth of this team as a whole.

To counter the shooting woes, Detroit ranks first in points in the paint per game. Detroit basketball plays a certain way and with a specific identity. However, not shooting enough threes will only get a team so far in the modern NBA. This is why Duncan Robinson has been so important for this team.

Robinson has kept Detroit in some games with his dynamic sharpshooting. He doesn't just wait in the corner for a catch-and-shoot three. Robinson is actively coming off of pin-downs for threes off the dribble, receiving dribble-handoffs and launching threes quickly before defense can collapse, and even letting them fly off of a standstill triple threat position. Robinson is averaging 12.3 points on 43.7% shooting from the field, 40.2% shooting from beyond the arc, and 7.5 three-point attempts per game on a team struggling in most shooting categories.

Defense

On any given night of Detroit basketball, expect Detroit to swarm. The numbers do not lie. JB Bickerstaff has wired this team mentally to buy into a unified mindset. A team with only one or two good perimeter defenders is a bad defensive NBA team. This Pistons team however is loaded with young and scrappy defenders who have simply bought in.

The Pistons rank fourth in defensive rating and sixth in points allowed per game. Duren and center Isaiah Stewart have led a balanced defensive attack below the rim. Cunningham, Ron Holland II, and the versatile Ausar Thompson have made winning easy with their ability to swarm a basketball.

If these three things remain consistent for the rest of the NBA season, it will be so much easier to tie up the loose ends before playoff time in April.