It seems that God himself has come down from heaven to condemn the Detroit Pistons franchise to eternal suffering, cyclical mediocrity and overwhelming dissapointment. It has now been 40 days since the Pistons have won a basketball game. By the time this article is published, this drought could be as long as 45 days in the likely scenario that they continue to lose.
This recent losing streak has left sophomore exercise science major Ben Stone utterly distraught and dumbfounded by the lack of effective management of this team.
“As a Detroit fan, it is exciting to finally see the Lions succeed after many years of patiently waiting for a good sports team in Detroit,” Stone said. “However, the Pistons are a hopeless dumpster fire that reminds me of the long-standing curse on my city, which is that two good things can’t happen at once in Detroit, Michigan.”
This disastrous season began with promise, as the Pistons managed to win two of their first three games. Their first win of the season came against the Charlotte Hornets, thanks to an impressive 24-point performance from shooting guard Alec Burks. Their blowout win against the struggling Chicago Bulls came in spite of a 50-point performance from Zach Lavine, largely thanks to a 25-point and 10-assist effort from promising young guard Cade Cunningham.
However, the glory days did not last long, and they were not even that glorious. Since starting the season 2-1, the Pistons find themselves on a 19-game losing streak that spanned the entire month of November, earning the colloquial label “No Win November” and has now to snuck into the first half of December.
The Pistons active losing streak is tied with several teams for the 14th longest losing streak in NBA history and is the longest losing streak in the team’s 82-year history. The pain that this losing streak has brought to the Pistons franchise is only intensified by the fact this franchise has seen hardly any success since many of us were born.
The Pistons have not won a single playoff game in 15 years, and their last NBA championship came in 2004 with Ben Wallace and Chauncey Billups. The Pistons command the longest losing streak in pro sports with 14 consecutive playoff losses and have been swept out of the first round the last three times they have made the playoffs.
The fact that the Pistons appear to have further regressed since last season is especially concerning given that the Pistons hired former NBA Coach of the Year Monty Williams from the Phoenix Suns and got their No. 1 pick in the 2021 Draft, Cunningham, back, who missed all but 12 games last season due to a stress fracture in his left leg.
The Pistons have been getting decimated by turnovers this year. They are averaging 16.6 turnovers per game, which is the second highest turnover rate in the league this season. They also rank close to last in team points per game, with 108, and are giving up almost 120 points per game to their opponents.
The team statistics are pretty depressing, and make it abundantly clear that this year’s Pistons are significantly lacking on both sides of the ball. Partially contributing to this is the fact that almost every player that has been counted on to provide for this team in one way or another has a thorn in his side that significantly inhibits the team’s ability to win.
For example, Cunningham is by far the team’s best scorer. He is averaging 22 points per game and shooting 35% from three, which are both good splits, especially for a young piece. However, he is turning the ball over at an inexcusably high rate and is the NBA leader in turnovers this year, with 60, and has turned the ball over five or more times in nine games this year.
2020 first-round draft pick Killian Hayes has played quite poorly for the Pistons this year. He does not appear to be panning out as the franchise cornerstone the Pistons were hoping for, scoring only nine points a game in a dreadfully inefficient manner.
“We could sit here and explain, in depth, why the Pistons are so bad, but we’d be here for hours,” said Sam Quinn at CBS. “We’ll give you the SparkNotes version in three quick sentences. Nobody on the team can shoot. Everyone on the team is young. Young players tend to be bad defenders.”
The sad reality of this disappointing season for the Pistons is it may only get worse from here. The Pistons’ next five games are all against teams with a winning record. This includes a game against the phenomenal Indiana Pacers, led by MVP hopeful Tyrese Haliburton, and a back-to-back series against the dominant Philadelphia 76ers.
The Pistons’ suffering seems sure to continue for the remainder of this season — and for the foreseeable future. I genuinely pity Detroit fans. They have been given nothing to cheer for in decades, and the Pistons have been reduced to a mere shell of a once-historic franchise that had a remarkable reign of dominance in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s.
This team has been in the purgatory of attempting to rebuild to no avail for over five years now. In order to change things, and turn this franchise into a winning one once more, significant personnel changes need to be made to build a more complete and cohesive roster. The front office needs to leave no stone unturned in considering potential trades, as this team is desperate for any type of spark that could bring momentum to a deflated franchise.
Until this team makes significant changes, I would save your time and stay as far away from Little Caesars Arena as possible. This team is pitiful and will need to change quite a bit before I will even consider watching them again.
