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The Detroit Pistons’ season might be slipping away. Are you buying or selling on their playoff hopes?

It wasn’t long ago that the Detroit Pistons were the hipster darlings of the NBA. They showed heart in their first playoff appearance since 2008, falling in a competitive sweep to the eventual champion Cleveland Cavaliers.

But they piqued the interest of the national media: Stanley Johnson was in LeBron’s head. They used the offseason to shore up the bench. Their biggest improvements, Coach Stan Van Gundy preached, would be in the development of the team’s many young players. Fans salivated, imagining Andre Drummond shooting 60 percent at the line, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope expanding his offensive game, Johnson turning into the shutdown 3 & D wing he seemed destined to become.

Reggie Jackson said he didn’t see a ceiling for the team. All of a sudden, the biggest NBA nerds were high on the Pistons. Utah was the hipster pick in the West, Detroit in the East. On his podcast, the Ringer’s Bill Simmons considered the betting odds for Detroit to make the Conference Finals. Why not the Pistons, after all?

Fast forward to December 2016’s three-game losing streak. The Pistons fell to Washington, Indiana and Chicago by an average of 20 points. Fast forward to locker room turmoil, failed team meetings and Reggie Jackson’s passive aggressive passing.

What happpened?

Detroit looked better against Memphis on Wednesday night, but couldn’t find enough offensive firepower to overcome a dominant 38-point performance from Grizzlies center Marc Gasol. With the loss, they dropped to 14-17. Three games under .500 isn’t a death knell, especially not in the Eastern Conference. But with games against the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers coming up, 14-19 looks like inevitable. Teams start to find their identities in December and January. The Pistons might be finding theirs, but it’s not what anybody expected.

Detroit is a hipster utopia no longer. Now it’s an island. The national media, not known for its nuance, will soon start writing the Pistons out of the playoff picture. Andre Drummond? Not a star. Reggie Jackson? Selfish and overrated. Stanley Johnson? A bust. Some fans are already mulling lottery picks and coaching changes. The cruise ships are pulling up anchors, the life boats are paddling away. Property prices are at an all-time low.

The only question: are you buying or selling?

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Personally, I’m not ready to give up my spot on Pistons Island. Those of us who are staying aren’t staying empty-handed. We’ve got a starting lineup that went 17-9 after the addition of Tobias Harris last season and finished in the top half of the league in net points; an improved Andre Drummond at the free-throw line; Jon Leuer having a career year off the bench. Most importantly, we’ve got an excellent coach and a versatile roster of young talent that rivals most NBA teams. We’ve got reasons to panic, but plenty of reasons to be optimistic, too.

This team isn’t raw enough to falter like the Young Timberwolves or Baby Lakers. They’re better constructed than the Magic, deeper than the Wizards. The NBA has been known to defy conventional logic, but this team is too good not to bounce back, at least to competitive .500 level basketball. That’s what I keep telling myself.

So, if you’re an Island dweller like me, you’re not necessarily looking for wins in these next two games against the Warriors and Cavaliers. But you are looking for renewed spirit, for a team of competitive guys to unite in the face of excellent competition. You’re looking for Reggie Jackson, who played well against Memphis despite a first quarter knee injury, to continue to improve. And then you’re looking for that spark to carry over in wins as this teams begins its climb back into playoff contention.

And if the losing streak climbs to 6, 7, 8, into the new year? Well, I’m still not selling property. But I might start renting rooms.