Season 2 for Pistons GT was one to forget, so let’s all just move on as a group. But like in life, sports is all about the comeback. What do you do AFTER you fall? For Pistons GT, it was responding with arguably the most impressive offseason of any single team. Two great draft picks, a brand new point guard and…wait, there was one more thing. Oh yea, Ramo is back. The league better be ready for the new-look Pistons GT.

Coach: King Du One

The Season 1 Coach of the Year struggled alongside the rest of his team. A lack of consistency at point guard, no star player to carry the load, defensive issues up and down the lineup, there was nothing Du One could’ve done to save last season. The good news, he has a much better roster this season that will hopefully lead to a comeback season for one of the better coaches the league has to offer.

Season 2 Team MVP: JosephTheTruth

Not too many options given the massive facelift the Pistons GT roster just went through, but Joseph is one of the guys who ended up sticking around. Joseph is a fine 2-way player who can play multiple positions. It’s not easy to stay on one team for three years and Joseph has been able to stick around by being a good dude and an all-around solid player. He had a triple-double towards the end of the season and put up decent rebounding numbers all year. It’s unclear where he is going to play this year. It seems like a SF landing spot is most likely, but wherever he plays, he won’t be the guy on the floor that loses you games.

Best Stat From Season 2: 71.8 Opp. PPG

Not many great stats from Season 2 for Pistons GT. Allowing a league-high 71.8 PPG was why they flipped over the roster like they did. They scored 60 PPG so their offense wasn’t a huge problem and they were league-average across the board for most high-end offensive statistics. Defense is what killed them last year and they went into the Season 3 offseason with a clear plan. Fix. The. Defense.

Offseason Moves:

Trades Made:

1. Magic Gaming
   1. Acquired: 2020 1st Round pick
   2. Traded Away: May
2. Pacers Gaming
   1. Acquired: Ramo + 2020 2nd Round pick
   2. Traded Away: 2020 1st & 2nd Round pick
3. Wizards District Gaming
   1. Acquired: Demon JT
   2. Traded Away: 2020 2nd Round Pick

Draft Picks:

14. Charger
43. LYKaPRO

WOAH. Talk about fixing the defense! Let’s go piece by piece from the top since GM Adam Rubin was in his bag this offseason. Trading May for a 1st Round pick is a really solid move. May is a very good player, but he didn’t have a future on this Pistons GT team and is a much better fit with Magic Gaming. He wasn’t the cause for their problems last season, but flipping him for a 1st rounder when you have a clear idea of what you want to do with your frontcourt is a fine trade. It’s even better when you realize they replaced him with Ramo. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Ramo is back in Detroit after being traded to Indiana before Season 2. Arguably the best defensive player in the entire league, Ramo will bring instant defensive improvement to this team and give them the star they desperately needed last season. The trade with Indiana was good for both sides. Pacers Gaming needed that high pick to get a PG and Detroit still had a 1st round pick from the May trade. The final trade they made was to nab Demon JT from Wizards DG and reunite him with his old pro-am teammate Ramo. One of the first 10 players ever selected to the NBA 2K League, JT has struggled so far in league play and hasn’t shown the same level of dominance as some other highly picked PGs in his class. Moving to Detroit represents a fresh start for him and pairing him with Ramo is a great plan. Along with those two, Pistons GT are bringing the whole Space Jam pro-am crew to Detroit and drafted Charger at #14 overall. That trio should end up being a force to be reckoned with this season, especially on stage. LYKaPRO was a solid pick at #43 overall. He’s been very good in 2K20 and is their insurance policy if Demon JT continues to struggle in league play.

Projected Lineup:

PG: Demon JT
SG: DevGoss
SF: Joseph
PF: Charger
C: Ramo
6th Man: LYKaPRO

This roster is going to be insane defensively. Joseph is going to be just fine at lock and even if you get around him, all of a sudden you are being funneled into the paint to the waiting hands of Ramo and Charger. Demon JT is a solid defender too at PG, expect a huge defensive improvement from last season. Offensively, there might be some considerable bumps. We haven’t seen the output from Demon JT so far in his 2K League career and DevGoss has struggled as a spot-up shooter as well. This isn’t to say that they both can’t improve, they have a lot of history in 2K of elite-level play, but we just haven’t seen it in the league so far. Ramo is a force down low, but the league is run by Point Guards on offense. Even last season with Pacers Gaming, Ramo could only get them so far and Swizurk is better than any wing player Detroit has. This team is going to need Demon JT to take over on offense and if he can’t do it, they’ll have to hope LYKaPRO can fill in the gap. Demon JT is not one to stand down from a challenge and Detroit should be thankful. Most of their season is riding on him returning to form.

Season 3 Breakout Candidate: Demon JT

It really can’t be anyone else. Charger is a fine player and should be a defensive stalwart at PF, but his offensive potential is on the lower end. This is Demon JT’s best chance, and maybe last chance, at being a lead scorer on an NBA 2K League team. He’s on a roster that fits him perfectly, full of guys that will support him off the court and play to his strengths on it. His pick-and-roll potential with Ramo is sky high over the course of a full season, but his bust potential might be just as high. We are all rooting for JT and his intensity to come through this season, but it remains to be seen what his ceiling truly is.

Season Outlook: 4 Letters. R.A.M.O.

We haven’t talked enough about how much of a force Ramo is in this league. The only guy in the league to take 2 different rosters on his back to the playoffs. He did it Season 1 in Detroit and last season in Indiana. This roster is probably better from a talent perspective than that Season 1 Pistons GT, but the rest of the league has more talent too. Let’s be straight, Ramo is going to need to have another career year to get this team into the playoffs. He has been one of the best players in the whole league, arguably the best big man in the entire league over the past 2 seasons. Detroit is going to need Ramo to play with that same intensity in order to make the playoffs this season. In terms of being a title contender, that really falls on how good the rest of the team is and whether or not they hit their upside. Can Demon JT be the elite PG they need? Can Dev turn into an elite sharpshooter? How will Joseph handle a full season at lock? How long will GM Adam Rubin’s beard be by season’s end? We will get the answer to these questions soon.