The Perfect Tanking Opportunity for the Detroit Pistons

The Detroit Pistons may have the perfect tanking opportunity if no fans are involved in the upcoming season.

With the NBA looking to start next season around Christmas, with a 72 game season and no real expectation of fans in arenas for a majority of the season, it puts a team like the Detroit Pistons in a very unique position.

With no fans in the arena, there’s no need to sell tickets and put fans in the seat, which could open the door to a once in a lifetime “tank with no consequences” scenario.

The Pistons were thrust into a make shift “tank” season this past year after an abundance of injuries plagued the team from the start. Three of their best five players (Blake Griffin, Luke Kennard, Reggie Jackson) only played 18, 28 and 14 games respectively.

The front office doubled down by trading away Andre Drummond at the deadline essentially for cap space, along with buying out Reggie Jackson and Markieff Morris. Ultimately, they ended up within a half game of the second best draft lottery odds.

Since Troy Weaver was brought on board this summer as the new GM, him and Dwane Casey have been talking about the Pistons “retooling” and remaining competitive. I don’t get the sense that they’ve been planning on spending all their money on win-now players, but they don’t seem to want to blow this all up.

Before I go further let me be clear, I have always been anti-tank. Every bone in my body starts screaming whenever someone has suggested that the Pistons should tank. It’s historically a terrible idea to endure years of disgusting, losing basketball, to possibly get some top 3 picks, to possibly draft the right players with those picks.

A lot has to go right, and it just isn’t worth it enough to justify it. It never made sense for the Pistons to go through a long, multi year tank, but this fan-less year could be the perfect opportunity for one strong tank year with no real repercussions.

From an ownership perspective, tanking means fewer fans in the arena. Fewer fans in the arena means less revenue. Less revenue means losing money. Losing money is the one thing an owner does NOT want to do. Obviously.

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It makes sense why Pistons ownership hasn’t been on board with this in the past, but in a year where the entire NBA is losing revenue because they can’t have fans in arenas, what’s the downside of taking advantage of the situation?

The Pistons have been stuck in mediocrity for the past 12 years because of their unwillingness to stop fighting for a lower playoff spot. Why not take advantage of this rare opportunity to tank without losing any revenue directly related in the process?

Sure, die-hard fans like me will be relatively miserable watching a truly tanking Pistons team next season, but you end up with a top 5 pick next season, and you’ve acquired assets in the process. You could essentially sneak in this tank year.

What would this look like, you may ask? The Pistons would likely move Derrick Rose, and probably Blake Griffin if the rumors are true that there is a market for him.

Maybe they even explore trading Luke Kennard, as he is one of their best assets (even though I think he should be a part of the core moving forward). They would explore using their cap space in trades to acquire assets (draft picks or young players) to bring back bad salary.

It may mean taking bigger risks on young players who haven’t panned out yet. This will allow all of the minutes in the world for the Pistons young players, without the pressure that comes with a team aiming for the playoffs.

There has been a section of Pistons fans over the years that have been begging for a tank, and there has been a section of Pistons fans (myself including) strongly opposing it. This feels like, for the first time ever, the perfect opportunity to commit, for at least this next season.