Reach: Provided that Drummond plays with full effort and to his potential, Jackson is healthy and plays a balanced game, Johnson becomes a serviceable shooter, the bench performs as expected, injuries do not become a problem, and (most importantly) Van Gundy coaches well, 50 wins and a top-three seed is possible, with a very probable berth in the second round and an outside shot at the conference finals.

Realistic: Injuries are an issue, Jackson is healthy but remains short of his pre-injury performance, and Van Gundy maintains his typical shortcomings. I believe that this would still land the Pistons in the high-40s in wins, the 4th-6th seed, and a probable berth in the second round. This would still be a stronger, deeper team to that which pounded out 44 wins in 2015-2016 season, and it now plays in a significantly weaker conference. Five teams in the East (the Knicks, Pacers, Nets, Bulls, and Magic) will be punching bags, and two more (the Heat and 76ers) are borderline.

Floor: Jackson maintains last season's degree of health and gets deactivated for the season, Van Gundy's rotations and coaching are awful, and injuries are a big problem. I consider this the least likely scenario, but I believe that it would still see the Pistons finish a shade over .500 and squeak into the 7th or 8th seed. The East is currently so weak that I cannot envision the Pistons missing the playoffs.