The second-year player is an important piece of the Pistons’ future

Entering the week, the Detroit Pistons are arriving at the home stretch of the preseason schedule. So far, the Pistons have played .500 exhibition basketball with a preseason-opening win against the Grizzlies last week before falling to the Bucks by a score of 117-111 more recently. But moving forward, the Pistons held an open practice in Detroit at Wayne State over the weekend in order to connect with the fans amid the preseason sequence, and the Saturday event had a good turnout of supporters in attendance. 

“What we do, what our guys do is for the city, for the fans and that's the most important part about it,” Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said on Monday. “That's why it makes it so fun and engaging. I think you saw our guys’ personality, you know, how they were willing to engage with the fans and sign autographs and play the games with kids and stuff like that. So, it means a lot to all of us that the fans came out, that they supported and that we were able to interact with them through preseason games.”

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From a team-building standpoint, the preseason offers the Pistons the opportunity to tinker with a lineup that experienced a little bit of turnover during the offseason. And with some new faces on the team, Bickerstaff is quite invested in trying different combinations of players so that he can get a complete look at his squad.

“All of it has been mapped out to where we were able to get most of the looks,” Bickerstaff said. “Obviously, the injuries kind of derail some of that stuff, and you have to change your plans. But these last couple of games, again, health obviously being first and foremost, we're going to try to get as many of those looks as we can and start to build those rotations to the best of our ability.”

From a rotational standpoint, the Pistons have given a lot of preseason minutes to bench players or guys on two-way contracts in order to see just how much depth Detroit has, and one big man who consistently rises to the occasion in Bickerstaff’s opinion is Bobi Klintman.

“He and I had a conversation,” Bickerstaff said. “I told him that game in Milwaukee I think is the best I've seen him, and that's one of the things that has been most impressive is that he continues to work, to continue to grow. You know, his skill set is there, obviously as coaches we got to give him opportunities, but his ability to cut, his ability to offensive rebound, his size, to be able to knock down shots and then be able to guard multiple offensive players– he's extremely versatile, extremely intelligent and has a great mind for the game.”

Klintman helps give the Pistons a little bit of flexibility at the end of the bench as another big man who can score and rebound at a decent clip in the NBA when given the opportunity to do so. However, Klintman’s chances may be limited in nature since the Pistons are planning to field a high-octane lineup that races up and down the floor, so speedy wing players, such as Ron Holland II, might eat into the total minutes available. 

“The things that [Holland] can do, there's so much that you can do with him on the floor to where he makes his teammates better, which is the most important thing you know,” Bickerstaff said. “To have that size, to be able to rebound, to be able to defend, but then offensively to be able to space. You know, he can impact the game and impact the game and impact his teammates in so many different ways.”

Holland has drawn a lot of praise throughout training camp and the preseason, and the Pistons have big plans for the second-year player during the 2025-26 season.

The Pistons will take on the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday, Oct. 14 at 7 pm on the road for the team’s third preseason game. 

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