Don’t bet on Detroit Pistons to win title … this season
With most of my friends not being Detroit Piston fans, let alone basketball fans, having the irrational expectation that the Pistons being in the playoffs this season, I thought it fitting to write this piece to pump the brakes on the lofty expectations of the most optimistic of fans, and those fans of the other major Detroit sports.
When pitching the idea of this article and informing one of our site experts, Stuart London, of this silent majority of semi-fans, who think this is a playoff team, he replied in one of the most fitting ways, “Oh jeez. Outside of Cunningham and Olynyk, it’s the same crew that went 20-52 last year.” Stuart is completely correct; this is an objectively bad basketball team in the ever-strengthening Eastern Conference.
When looking at the odds for this season, the Detroit Pistons are tied for the worst chances at winning the NBA title at +50000 (a $100 wins $50,000) with the Rockets, Thunder, Magic, and Cavaliers.
When it comes to winning the Eastern Conference (making the NBA Finals) once again the Pistons are last at +25000 with the Magic and Cavaliers. Finally, the Pistons are +800 to make the playoffs, down from the +1200 they were before draft night, but that still leaves them a pretty long shot to make the playoffs.
It might seem as I’m being a Debby Downer, I just don’t want people to have unrealistic expectations, get frustrated with another losing season and turn on the front office and this young team.
I’m not saying that this team won’t be competitive (they were pretty competitive last year despite the 20-52 record) and that we will have another tanking season on our hands.
I would put the Pistons ceiling at the 8-seed, but more likely a 10-13 place finish. A 10th place finish would mean a play-in appearance, and a 9-seed would mean a home game for the play-in.
Well, that would be fun. It has been since 2008 that Detroit has won a playoff game.