4. Detroit Pistons
The Detroit Pistons have been a somewhat surprising success story so far in the 2018-19 NBA season. Even though they’re currently on a 6-game losing streak, the Pistons still find themselves at a respectable 13-13 and are in 7th place in the Eastern Conference.
While the top teams in the East have played extremely well to start the season, the rest of the East has been underwhelming. Because of the overall lack of depth in the East, it’s fairly conceivable that the Pistons could manage to keep the 7th spot or even move up to 6 seed.
Blake Griffin and Andre Drummond have both had phenomenal seasons. Griffin is averaging 25.6 points, 9.1 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game, and Drummond is averaging 18.2 points, 15.4 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game. The stellar play from both of these players is largely the reason why Detroit has been able to find any success at all, but if they want to make some noise in the playoffs, they’ll need some more help.
Enter Jabari Parker.
Detroit is currently ranked 23rd in offensive rating and 12th in defensive rating. Clearly, their offense is what needs the most work.
While I think acquiring backcourt players via trade would help the Pistons more than frontcourt players, really any offensive talent will at least move the needle in the right direction.