Pistons have a clear strategy, but is it the right one?

After winning 31 games combined over the past two seasons, the Detroit Pistons needed an overhaul. This summer, they made that overhaul, but is Detroit heading in the right direction or backing itself into a corner?

By the way, that wasn't a typo. Detroit has won 31 games the past two seasons, a stunning stat and one of the worst two-year stretches in league history. There were 22 NBA teams that won more than 31 games last year alone. 

Detroit couldn't afford another season like its past two, so armed with a mountain of money to spend, the Pistons added NBA-level players willing to play for the franchise. 

First up was Tim Hardaway Jr., the 32-year-old who spent the past six seasons in Dallas. He had some great moments (he averaged 16.6 points per game in 2020-21) with the Mavericks, but the team phased him out of the lineup down the spring stretch and into the 2023-24 playoffs as they made their run to the NBA Finals. 

At the end of June, Dallas traded THJ and two future draft picks to Detroit for Quentin Grimes. 

The Pistons then set their sights on Tobias Harris, who will make $26 million annually for the Pistons over the next two seasons. Harris has been a good NBA scorer for the past decade. His most recent tenure — six seasons in Philadelphia — wasn't his most successful, but that was because the 76ers misused him in their offense.

In Detroit, Harris won't feel the pressure he did in Philly, where he averaged 17.2 points last season. Pistons fans will be happy to have Harris, who gives the team someone besides Cade Cunningham to score at an efficient clip.

Malik Beasley and Paul Reed were the next targets for Trajan Langdon, Detroit's new president of basketball operations. After shooting a career-best 41.3% from deep in his lone year with Milwaukee, Beasley signed with Detroit on a one-year, $6 million contract.

Beasley isn't exceptionally versatile — he's on the floor to shoot — but Detroit ranked 26th in 3PT% and 29th in made threes last season, so his best skill is one that the Pistons coveted this offseason. 

Reed, meanwhile, exists on the other end of the spectrum. He's not great at any facet of the game but brings enough of everything to warrant him staying on the floor. He's an ideal backup for Jalen Duren. 

Langdon and Detroit had a clear objective this summer — acquire all the NBA talent they could. They did an admirable job of that and the roster has been significantly improved in key areas.

With a slew of new veterans, the Pistons are going to be a lot better than the Pistons of 2022-24. The team might win more games in 2024-25 than over the past two seasons combined.

Although rapid improvement is necessary, it's fair to wonder whether the moves Detroit made are setting the franchise up for success — not just being better than the worst team in the NBA for a few seasons. 

There isn't one correct way to build a team. The Boston Celtics and Denver Nuggets built the past two championship teams by drafting a core duo — Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic for Denver, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown for Boston — before tinkering with complementary pieces until they found the right combination.

The Toronto Raptors and Milwaukee Bucks, who were already competitors years before their championships in 2019 and 2021, got over the hump by adding Kawhi Leonard and Jrue Holiday, respectively. The Golden State Warriors built a dynasty, so they are an exception to most rules. And the Lakers are the Lakers, so they traded for Anthony Davis despite years of dysfunction in the front office.

Detroit is years away from being a perennial playoff team and the path it's taking to get there isn't yet apparent.

Cunningham recently signed a five-year, $224 million extension with the Pistons, so you can argue the team is trying to follow the Denver/Boston path of finding two stars and then tailoring a roster to their skills. Detroit, however, doesn't have a second star yet.

Duren, a 21-year-old, 6-foot-10 athletic marvel, could become that second pillar. Or maybe defensive ace Ausar Thompson could. Or maybe Detroit's recent first-round pick, Ron Holland, could. Detroit is loaded with young players and the infusion of veteran playmakers will theoretically make it easier to discover who the other franchise pillar might be because adding quality players makes everyone's life easier. 

But Detroit also could be backing itself into a corner. 

It's not hard to imagine the veteran players cutting into the playing time of young players such as Holland and Thompson. Plus, Detroit could get so desperate for wins that it becomes satisfied with netting 20-30 victories a season without finding a second building block.

Boston and Denver secured their young stars before trying to build rosters around them. Detroit, meanwhile, hopes building a competent roster will unveil its second young star. 

In just a few months, Langdon has done an impressive job of improving the roster. He seems to have dragged the franchise out of the NBA basement. 

But the next step — building the Pistons into a postseason threat — will be more arduous. Finding Cunningham's running mate is the most important puzzle piece toward taking that next step.