Looking back on the last decade of the Detroit Pistons

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Looking back, it’s been a frustrating decade for the Detroit Pistons organization. It’s been hard on the fans too. Let’s look back and have a good laugh.

Pistons fans from all over would understand how frustrating the last ten years have been. From Michael Curry to Stan Van Gundy, it’s been hard.

It’s been especially hard because of the success the Pistons had before this dreadful ten years started. Let’s look at the numbers:

Record from 1998-2008: 487 – 301 (.618)
Record from 2009-2018: 331 – 473 (.411)

Detroit Pistons ‘Going to work’ era ends

Former Pistons general manager Joe Dumars fired Flip Saunders the summer before the 2008-2009 season began. At this point, everyone began to get the idea that things were probably going to start changing around the roster.

It was a bit of a head-scratcher at the time. Saunders was very successful as the head coach of the Detroit Pistons. He had a record of 176-70 over three seasons. The Pistons appeared in the Eastern Conference finals in each of those three years as well.

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They got the short end of the stick in two of those seasons. The Miami Heat featuring Shaquille O’Neal and Dwyane Wade beat them in 2006 on their way to an NBA championship. In 2008, they ran into the Boston Big Three who were without a doubt the best team in the NBA at the time.

Back to the point. It felt like Saunders got let go too soon. He had one year left in his deal.

Dumars brought in Michael Curry to be the head coach. He was previously an assistant coach for the Detroit Pistons. During that season, the Pistons traded away Chauncey Billups. In return, Allen Iverson was brought to Detroit.

The team looked lost after Billups was traded. They finished with a losing record (39-43) for the first time since the 2000-2001 season. Their season ended with a sweep in the first round of the playoffs by LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The days we’d like to forget

The Pistons look like a much different team heading into the 2009 season. Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva are brought to Detroit to help transition into a new era of Pistons basketball.

Rasheed Wallace is gone. Ben Wallace is back in a Pistons uniform. Some guy named John Kuester is now the head coach. Everything goes completely wrong in his two years as head coach.

There’s one point where players are openly protesting and not playing while he’s head coach. That’s one way you realize that you’ve completely lost your team. The Pistons went 57-107 under Kuester.

More pain and misery

Who does Dumars bring in to revitalize the organization? Lawrence Frank. If you remember correctly, Frank was fired by the New Jersey Nets because his team got off to an 0-16 start in the 2009 season. Is it really a surprise that the team didn’t do well under Frank in Detroit?

Frank packs his bags after just two seasons as well. He finished with a record of 54-94 in two seasons. Richard Hamilton is out of Detroit now as well.

With this video, it seems like we’re at an all-time low. Rookie Brandon Knight is getting destroyed by DeAndre Jordan. Nothing is going right for this organization.

Let’s point out something quickly. It’s not completely on the coaches who came and went during this time. The Pistons lacked talent to compete with a lot of teams in the league.

It’s 2013 now and the Pistons are looking in a new direction. They go out and get Josh Smith and Brandon Jennings to help this team be competitive again. Maurice Cheeks, another guy with zero head coaching experience to this point, is brought in to be the head coach of the Detroit Pistons.

There was a big problem with this formula. The Pistons crowded their front court with three guys (Smith, Monroe, Drummond) who all thrive in the paint. That just doesn’t add up.

After just 50 games and a 21-29 start, Cheeks is fired by Dumars. By the end of the season, Dumars announces that he will be resigning as the general manager which felt long overdue.

Let’s build a f****** wall

It finally feels like there’s light at the end of the tunnel. The Detroit Pistons go out and hire Stan Van Gundy in 2014. They also hire Jeff Bower shortly after.

It feels like the train is starting to get back on the tracks. The Pistons are finally making strides to get better as an organization.

After a 5-23 start under Van Gundy, Josh Smith is released and the Pistons start to play much better. They rattle off 12 out of 15 games and get back into playoff contention, something Pistons fans hadn’t heard in a long time.

To top it off, Van Gundy’s in-game speech steals the hearts of all Pistons fans.

Ultimately, Van Gundy has a productive year even though the team loses 50 games. He deals for Reggie Jackson, Andre Drummond shows development, and the roster looks better than it had been in the five seasons before this one.

In 2015-2016, the Pistons have a great season. Jackson and Drummond emerge as a great duo. Van Gundy takes another step at improving the roster by trading for Tobias Harris.

The Pistons have a winning record for the first time since the 2007-2008 campaign. Ultimately, Cleveland breaks out the brooms on the Pistons in the first round of the playoffs.

Unfortunately, injuries and a lot of other factors over Van Gundy’s last two seasons as head coach and President of basketball operations lead to losing records and missing the playoffs.

Here’s a comparison for you: Stan Van Gundy is much like former Detroit Lions head coach Jim Caldwell. They were both a breath of fresh air for a while. They led their respective teams out of the gutter and got them back to relevance. However, they can only take you to a certain point.

Let’s hope the next decade is much better than the last for the Detroit Pistons.

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