The 2026-27 regular season is set to kick off soon for the Detroit Pistons. One of the team's most important building blocks, forward Ron Holland, is central to the team's upcoming excitement and development. The third-year forward represents Detroit's grit and hustle with his game, two key components of the winning franchise identity.

Holland is coming into the season with a chip on his shoulder and extra motivation. The Pistons are coming off of a 60-win season last year, which earned them their first Eastern Conference No. 1 seed since 2006-07. Detroit defeated the Orlando Magic in seven games during their first-round matchup before coming up short in the next round versus the Cleveland Cavaliers in another seven games.

During a preseason road trip and a Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 promo run, Holland took a moment to speak with us exclusively at ClutchPoints about building on last season's success. The 21-year-old wing set a big individual goal for himself to achieve.

“For personal goals, I want to get on the (NBA) All-Defense team. I feel like I'm capable of doing that. With the way I play defense, the team that we have, and the way Ausar Thompson guards, I feel like we'll be able to make some noise this year,” Holland stated. “He was runner-up for Defensive Player of the Year last year. That speaks to how good of a defender he is, and I feel like I can get up there.”

Holland finished last season as one of the most productive perimeter defenders in the NBA. He improved his defensive rating to 108.2 and averaged 1.2 steals through 78 games. His defensive tenacity is one of Detroit's strongest calling cards. The Pistons finished with the second-best defensive rating in the league at 109.7, and Holland is a big reason why.

Detroit added some new pieces to address their perimeter shooting, as well as filling in production after losing frontcourt leaders Tobias Harris and Isaiah Stewart this offseason. The team acquired John Collins, Isaiah Joe, and Taurean Prince to fill the needed void for Detroit. The Pistons also re-signed All-Star center Jalen Duren and Ausar Thompson to long-term deals as building blocks around franchise point guard Cade Cunningham.

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Holland's growth will also play a major part in Detroit's future. He detailed how he wanted to become more intentional with his decision-making on offense and on defense. Holland also grew his relationship closer to Cunningham by spending time during the offseason together in Colorado. He said they grew as friends personally and worked on many aspects to grow as players too.

The Pistons' sparkplug was not shy about the disappointment felt at the end of last season's playoff run. Their Game 7 home defeat against the Cavaliers certainly was not the ending Detroit was working for. Holland was not shy about how far he believed the Pistons could have gone last season at their best.

“We came up short last year in the playoffs. We feel like we could have gone farther. We feel like we should have won a championship last year,” Holland said. “As the season goes on and as we get better this year, I feel like that's going to be our same mindset. We're taking practice seriously. From the beginning, we're going to make sure we're building playoff habits because when the playoffs come, we don't want to have any regrets.”