Coming into the preseason, the Detroit Pistons were awash in optimism, as fans hoped they might take the next logical step towards contention.
Cade Cunningham was on the way, and the Pistons had also added Kelly Olynyk to a group that was scrappy the season before even though they only won 20 games.
With just 24 games remaining in the season, that step hasn’t been taken, as Detroit currently has the second-worst record in the NBA and is staring at another bottom three finish.
While this is good for their draft status, it’s not so good for my bold preseason predictions, some of which now look laughable in retrospect.
So let’s take a look back at the things I predicted way back in the offseason when hope was abundant for us naive summer children.
Remember, these were BOLD predictions for a reason, and I stand behind the logic of my takes even though most of them did not pan out. Also remember that these were pre-training camp, so there were lots of things we didn’t know yet.
Let’s take a look at just how wrong I was.
Detroit Pistons: 5 bold preseason takes revisited
Bold prediction #1: The Pistons will make the play-in tournament
Well, this one turned out to be pretty wrong, though I definitely wasn’t confident this was going to happen.
Yesterday, we looked back at some things James Edwards III said in a preseason Q&A we did with him, and he too thought the Detroit Pistons had a shot at the play-in if everything worked out perfectly.
My logic was that Detroit lost 32 games by 10 points or fewer the season before and that the additions of Cunningham and Olynyk would turn some of those close losses into wins.
Instead, Cade got hurt, then Jerami Grant and Kelly Olynyk and the team never got to build that chemistry. Instead of turning those close losses into wins, the young Pistons turned many of them into blowout losses and will now be lucky to win 20 games for the third straight year.
It’s sad that getting the 10th seed in the Eastern Conference seems like a pipe dream, but given that the Pistons are currently 15 games out of that spot, it pretty much is.
If only I could go back and warn my preseason self.