What does Dwane Casey need to accomplish with Pistons next season?

If you went back to early in the season and looked at the odds of which NBA coach was going to get fired, Dwane Casey of the Detroit Pistons was at or near the top of the list.

The Pistons were struggling, Cade Cunningham wasn’t playing particularly well, and many thought it would be a good time to part ways with coach Casey and start fresh.

But the Detroit Pistons stayed patient, Cade started to roll, and the Pistons finished the season playing much better overall, which is exactly what fans wanted from such a young team.

All of the young players improved, the Pistons started to play competitively and Dwane Casey deserves some credit for keeping them all focused and prepared through all of the losing and injuries. This team never had any drama and they played hard for their coach.

I think coach Casey definitely did enough to earn another season, but expectations are going to be a lot higher and winning 23 games isn’t going to be acceptable.

The Pistons have a nice core of young talent and the ammo to make some impact roster additions this offseason.

If Detroit lucks out and lands a top-3 pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, adds an impact free agent and bolsters their bench, expectations are going to be high, so what does Dwane Casey need to do to keep his job?

Expectations for Dwane Casey and the Detroit Pistons next season

Whether the Detroit Pistons have a splashy offseason or not, they will be expected to win more than 23 games next season, that is for certain.

Even if they do little in the offseason, this team should be trying to make incremental improvement, which would mean winning 30+ games next season. But I feel like a 30-win season is likely to end in Dwane Casey getting fired, so 35+ is more like it.

If the Pistons do make a big offseason addition, sniffing the play-in tournament or making it as a 10th seed or higher is going to be the mark Casey may need to hit to keep his job.

However, it’s fair to point out that the Eastern Conference is very good right now. The 10th seed in the East this season (Charlotte) was 43-39, while the 10th seed in the West went 34-48 this season.

Asking a 23-win team to make that kind of leap may be unrealistic, though it’s exactly what the Cleveland Cavaliers did, as they went from 22 wins in 2020-21 to 44 wins this season.

If the Pistons go into next season with a shiny new roster, expectations will be for Detroit to do the same and the patience with losing will wear thin quickly.