The Donovan Mitchell trade is huge and I think drastically hurts the chances of the Pistons progressing to the playoffs for the next two or three years. I see the Cavaliers rising quickly to compete with Milwaukee, and Chicago trying to pull-out all of the stops to remain up near them. That leaves the Pistons scraping the bottom of the standings with Indiana nipping away too.

Will we get more draft capital to end the agony? Is draft capital enough? The game seems to be all about Super Stars, so a lot depends on if Detroit's players can develop into and reach that level. Detroit has long been, and hase taken pride in a blue collar mentality, but with the ascension of the three-point shot, and the wide emergence of Super Stars the script for success seems to have been permanently re-written.

Is it possible to become a Super Star? Could Cunningham become one? Could Ivey? Will building up Saddiq into a leading scorer let Detroit develop a Super Star Trio? I cringe a bit thinking about how this will set these players apart from the culture of Detroit and the rest of the squad. I love how Stewart goes to work and grinds, without much flash. I love imagining that our other big guys can and will do the same: mashing, bashing, and doing lots of heavy lifting. Yet, I think it really will all boil down to whether Cunningham, Ivey, and, or Bey can out score, and simply out play Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton, or Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland, or Lonzo Ball and Zach Levine.

Am I jaded? Do Super Stars and the 3-Point Dimension deserve to rule the game today? I feel that some of the complexity of defense, inside out passing, setting picks, and more has been lost. I guess I have a hard time believing that just one player - Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, Giannis Antekounmpo, LeBron James, or some other Super Star should determine the fate of a team's fortunes.

I suppose I'd love to hear others' opinions on whether Cade, Jalen, and Saddiq can become Super Stars, or if Detroit is doomed to be a middling franchise at best for the foreseeable future until it embraces building its own Super Stars.