The Detroit Pistons start their Summer League play tonight against the Portland Trail Blazers, where fans will get their first look at the shiny new rookies.
It is inevitable that fans and media alike will label these young players as “future superstars” or “busts” (see the contrasting opinions from Chet Holmgren’s debut and second game), but it should be stated that Summer League performances rarely correlate to regular season success due to the drastic change in talent, skill, and experience level between a Summer League game and an NBA game. Still there are things we can glean from Summer league—especially with so many of the Pistons core players expected to play significant minutes.