National Basketball Association

Detroit Pistons: Is there value to be found in the preseason?

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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Stan Van Gundy stated on Thursday that he believes the preseason has no analytical value. Is there nothing worth observing in the Detroit Pistons preseason?

The jury is out on how much value can be found in analyzing the preseason. Detroit Pistons‘ president and head coach Stan Van Gundy, for one, strongly believes that there is nothing to be gained from observing the preseason.

Speaking to Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press on Thursday, Van Gundy shared his thoughts on the value of analyzing preseason basketball.

Via the Free Press:

“The analysis is it’s preseason basketball,” Van Gundy said. “That’s the analysis.”

In typical Van Gundy fashion, he says it like he sees it. However, is it that open and shut? Is there nothing of value to be gained from observing the preseason from an advanced and aware point of view?

While he’s the expert, this might be a bit simplistic on his part.

First off, to my point, the Detroit Pistons played their last game on April 24th. For those keeping track at home, that’s about four and a half months.

Since that time, the Pistons have turned over the bulk of the second unit. The team that takes the floor Thursday night against the Brooklyn Nets will bear very little resemblance to the one that bowed out of the first round of the playoffs against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Let’s break down just what we should be watching going into the preseason that DOES hold value.

Again, Stan Van Gundy isn’t wrong. None of these things are going to make the difference between the Pistons getting the third seed or the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference. They probably won’t even make the difference between the third seed and the fourth seed.

But this is a team we haven’t seen play in almost 20 weeks. Deep analysis or not, there is plenty to learn about the Pistons this preseason, and that starts at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday night in Brooklyn.