The Detroit Pistons are having a very nice season as they are 23-20 which has them in sixth place in the Eastern Conference. Despite their solid play halfway through the season the team feels they could be better and one of the issues that is being pointed out is the lack of a true leader in the locker room. Because the team lacks a leader the Pistons are expected to have heavy interest in Al Horford this offseason, according to Vincent Ellis of the Detroit Free Press.
After the Pistons loss to the New Orleans Pelicans on Thursday night backup point guard Brandon Jennings was none too happy with the team's performance. Jennings held nothing back when saying that the players need to do a better job in terms of leadership.
"We need a leader in this locker room that's the first thing. We don't have a leader. That's just being 100 percent honest there's no leader in this locker room. That would help. We do a lot of talking but there's not a lot of doing. Nobody has stepped up yet not that I've seen. We'll say things here and there but mostly it's just coach talking. It has to come from the players and we have to police ourselves," said Jennings, according to Rod Beard of The Detroit News.
Many people around the Pistons feel as though there isn't anyone currently in the locker room that will solve the leadership problem so they will likely have to address it from outside the organization. The Pistons are in the hunt now so they may look to get a veteran presence before the trade deadline but someone like Horford makes a lot of sense for them in free agency.
Horford is in the final year of his contract with the Hawks and is expected to be a highly sought after free agent this summer. The Hawks have the option of trading him this season but that is extremely unlikely considering they have the third best record in the Eastern Conference. Horford has spent all nine seasons of his career in Atlanta so it would likely be tough to pry him away but the Pistons do have a very young core to boast so you never know.
Horford's fit with the Pistons would be interesting because Detroit let Greg Monroe walk so that they could start a stretch four alongside Andre Drummond. Horford is not a stretch four but he is a very good mid to long-range shooter so he would likely fit better next to Drummond than Monroe did. As of right now Horford signing with anyone besides the Hawks in the offseason seems unlikely but expect him to be coveted by many teams including the Pistons.
