Historic day past and present for Detroit Pistons
The date October 30 is a celebrated time for Detroit Pistons fans, as legend Isiah Thomas made his NBA debut. They hope it will get even better, as the day also marks the first game for Cade Cunningham.
A bedraggled once glorious franchise looked to a high draft pick to help them rebuild. No, we are not talking about Cunningham.
It was on October 30, 1981, that Isiah Thomas took the floor for the first time in a Pistons uniform. He did not slowly work himself into the lineup. Thomas started, and scored 31 points as the Pistons defeated the Milwaukee Bucks by five.
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Flash forward 40 years, to October 30, 2021. Cade Cunningham makes his NBA debut for Detroit. The No. 1 overall pick started, and while he did not have the stats Thomas piled up in his debut, Cunningham did help the Pistons to their first win of the season, 110-103, over the Orlando Magic (who were not in existence when Thomas began playing.)
Cunningham was the only starter to have a positive in the plus/minus (+2).
A lot of hope is invested in Cunningham. The 6-foot-6 guard has a reputation for being able to do just about everything. That is good, because the Pistons need help in just about every category.
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Detroit has been pretty bad the last couple of years, but they did make the playoffs as recently as 2018. But they have not won a playoff game since 2008, so it has been a while since they have been a real contender.
The drought of success in Detroit was even longer when Thomas arrived. It had been five years since the Pistons had made the post-season (and making the NBA playoffs are not that hard to qualify for).
Detroit had not made a conference final in 19 years. The last time they were in the NBA finals was 1955, back when they were based in Fort Wayne, Indiana and led by George Yardley.
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It would take five years before Thomas and the Pistons would reach a conference final. They made the NBA finals for the first time in Detroit history in 1988, and won the NBA championships in 1989 and ’90.
Cunningham’s Pistons group probably has more potential than Thomas had. Although John Long, Terry Tyler and Phil Hubbard were not bad, they had reached their ceiling by the time Thomas arrived.
Cunningham is surrounded by an Olympic gold medalist, two members of the USA Select team and the No. 7 pick in last year’s draft who is just 20-years-old.
A major difference between Cunningham and Thomas’ debut is that the fan-base has tasted recent success, while Thomas had the luxury of slowly building the team up, as any sign of improvement would be greeted warmly by fans who had known nothing but failure.
Besides those two championship teams, the Pistons made the Eastern Conference finals every year from 2003 to 2008, winning it all in 2004. So a lot of current Detroit fans have memories of success.
Many people hope Cunningham can do like Thomas 40 years ago, start the Pistons on a path to a championship. That is not to say Cade has to be as good as Isiah Thomas, but this team needs a leader who can guide them out of their current wilderness, seeking a way out of constant losing, and back to where they want to be.
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Hopefully, one day in the future, October 30th will also be celebrated for the date of Cade Cunningham’s debut. We won’t know for a while, but at least there are good vibes at his start.