The Detroit Pistons’ future outlook is very promising and spread out well across different positions. At four of the five spots on the court, the Pistons have young players who are already solid contributors and will only get better as they grow: Cade Cunningham at point guard, Jaden Ivey at shooting guard, Ausar Thompson and Ron Holland at small forward, and Jalen Duren and Isaiah Stewart at center.
The Pistons are missing a long term solution at power forward. They currently employ veteran Tobias Harris (entering his age 33 season and a free agent after next season) and have a slightly younger backup option in Simone Fontecchio (entering his age 30 season) who just had an inexplicably poor year shooting the ball.
We have speculated on multiple options around the league for the Pistons to find their power forward of the future, including Naz Reid who just inked a huge extension with the Timberwolves. But the real answer might already be on the roster.
Could Bobi Klintman step into a role for the Detroit Pistons?
Bobi Klintman was selected with the 37th overall pick in the 2024 draft and is a power forward who brings ample size and exciting potential. He measures at 6-foot-10 and showed off versatile skills across the summer league and G league last season. Klintman was not able to garner many minutes on the Pistons main roster, but he showed exciting flashes across his playing time in the lesser leagues.
Klintman’s G league tape shows a huge body who can occasionally step out to hit 3s, extending even to above-the-break 3s. He’s also a force in transition, where his long frame and fluid movements allow him to get crafty finishes. This could be an important skill playing alongside defensive playmakers like Ausar Thompson who force frequent turnovers and long rebounds.
Klintman also showed flashes as a solid decision maker out of the pick and roll. He has a nice handle for his size and decent passing ability so he was able to operate as a distributor in the short roll. If you squint hard enough you can already imagine Jalen Duren being on the other end of those passes and getting easy dunks.
Klintman has defensive potential and showed that on some impressive plays where he would fly out of nowhere to get a surprising block. But his overall defensive presence is definitely an area for improvement, and probably the biggest thing he needs to work on before he’s consistently called up to the Pistons main roster.
This upcoming season is a huge one for Bobi Klintman to establish himself and prove he belongs in the big leagues. The Pistons front office and fans are hopeful that he can be the power forward of the future, but he’s got to put it all together first. The first step will be a good Summer League outing, which begins in just under 2 weeks.