Detroit Pistons: Top 5 single-season performances of the 2010s
The 2010s were a decade of basketball that most Detroit Pistons fans would like to forget. Between the 2010-11 and 2019-20 seasons, the Pistons had an overall record of 326-462. The franchise only finished with 41 or more wins in a season twice. Their highest win total was 44 wins in the 2015-16 season.
Detroit also went through six head coaches during this span. John Kuester had his final season as the Pistons coach during the 2010-11 season. For the next two seasons, Lawrence Frank led the team to two sub 30 win seasons. Maurice Cheeks would only make it 50 games through the 2013-14 season before he was replaced by John Loyer for the rest of the season.
Detroit Pistons: New coach, same mediocrity
Then came the Stan Van Gundy era. Van Gundy’s tenure saw Detroit’s first playoff appearance of the decade, but his roster would be swept by the eventual NBA Champion Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round. Ultimately, Van Gundy’s teams would be mired in mediocrity and the coach would be let go after four seasons.
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Dwane Casey would be hired to replace Van Gundy as the Pistons head coach. The former NBA Coach of the Year would make a playoff appearance in his first season in Detroit, a feat he would not repeat during the 2019-20 season.
The 2010s were a painful decade for Pistons fans. The team was trapped between terrible and mediocre. They never finished above the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference and were swept in both of their playoff appearances.
There were not many bright spots for the Pistons during the past decade. The team is better remembered for its lowlights than its few successes. But despite all of the team’s failures and disappointments, every now and then, players were able to have strong individual seasons.
Those strong seasons were not a common occurrence in Detroit during the 2010s, but here are the five best single-season performances of the 2010s.