10 takeaways from the Detroit Pistons first half of the season

The Detroit Pistons are 14-27 through the first half of the season, far from where their preseason expectations were. Here’s what we’ve learned so far.

If the Detroit Pistons record was reversed, many would be encouraged by their play with improvements around an All-NBA player. But that hasn’t been the case through the first half of the season.

Detroit is 14-27 and has only won back-to-back games twice. A season with high expectations, having a healthy Blake Griffin coming off an All-NBA season adding veterans such as Derrick Rose and Markieff Morris, everything has spiraled in the wrong direction.

Griffin had his second knee surgery in eight months. Reggie Jackson has missed all but two games. Even Andre Drummond, who is sixth in games played since entering the league with 580, missed a pair of games due to an allergic reaction to eating an avocado in Mexico City.

There have been some positives this season, which we’ll touch on, plenty of negatives and a whole lot more that will unfold over the next four weeks. The Pistons have been implicated in several trade rumors and reports so the sprint to the Feb. 6 trade deadline will be eventful.

Pistons owner Tom Gores notably referenced he would be evaluating the team over the next month, finally opening the idea of losing to be better in the future. Since then, Detroit is 2-4 and trade rumors began flying with Drummond, Langston Galloway and Luke Kennard being mentioned so far.

Detroit entered the season with the easiest schedule before the All-Star break, but you wouldn’t know it with how they’ve played. March won’t be any easier facing the West’s best in a gauntlet, though most of those games will be at Little Caesars Arena.

The pro-tank crowd is finally getting their wish as the Pistons are heading down that path, though not by choice.

Here are 10 takeaways from the first 41 games of the Pistons season.