The Detroit Pistons will have a top seven pick in the NBA Draft for three straight years, barring a trade, when the 2022 draft is held on June 23. What the club has gotten out of losing a ton of games can be debated, but it time to climb out of the Tank, and start playing to win.
The most famous ‘Tanking’ was by the Philadelphia 76ers from 2013-17 under general manager Sam Hinkie and ‘The Process’. The players they had were young, and not very good (with a few exceptions like Jerami Grant), and that was on purpose. The theory was, to win championships, you need star players, and the easiest way to get stars was to draft them.
Since future stars usually are high draft picks, just lose and, eventually, you will get some.
The problem was, drafting 19-year-olds is an inexact science (there were also plenty of busts in NBA history too, back when players had to finish four years of college to get drafted, just look at the Pistons draft history) and some years are stronger than others.
The Sixers during that time drafted Nerlens Noel, Joel Embiid, Jahlil Okafor and after Hinkie was fired), Ben Simmons, Markelle Fultz. All were in the top three of the draft except Noel (who went sixth only because he tore his ACL, would have been No. 1 if healthy).
What has this brought the 76ers? Losing in the first or second round of the playoffs for the past five years.
Being a high draft pick is not a guarantee of netting a superstar. Noel is a career backup center, Okafor is barely hanging on in the league (including a brief stint with the Pistons), Fultz forgot how to shoot and Simmons never learned. Embiid is good, maybe should have been the MVP this year, but that is one star for four years of awful losing.
The problem is, if you keep losing, hoping to one year nail a superstar to lead you to the title, you will be like a mouse on a wheel. Spinning and spinning and going nowhere. Because there will always be some much-hyped player in college, prep school or Europe, to hang hopes on on.
And the NBA really did not like what Hinkie was doing. To discourage copycats in the future, they changed the percentages for the bottom teams. In Hinkie’s day, it was a 25-percent chance of getting the first pick in the draft, now it is 14% (ironically, the 76ers never got the No. 1 pick until after Hinkie left).
The ‘smoothing’ of the percentages has dampen some enthusiasm about a team doing its own ‘Process’, but not as much as one would think. When you are not a free agent destination like a Los Angeles or Miami and you do not have much talent to trade with, the draft can be seen as your best hope for a turnaround.
What have the Detroit Pistons gotten out of tanking?
The Pistons tanking was more organic, not a carefully planned long-term strategy like Hinkie’s.
Detroit was coming off a playoff appearance in Dwane Casey’s first year as coach. But Blake Griffin’s legs were shot, Derrick Rose was no longer at the MVP level of years gone by and, as the team stumbled to an 18-33 start, a lot of vets wanted out and go to a contender. Oh, and they discovered Andre Drummond does not do much of anything to help you win, despite his gaudy stats (a lesson the Lakers and Nets would also come to learn)
When Troy Weaver took over in 2020 as general manager, it was to give the team a fresh start. When Griffin and Rose were traded, another bad season was inevitable.
For once (literally), luck was on Detroit’s side. They got the No. 1 pick for the first time in 51 years and it was a good year to get it, as the draft was loaded. Hi Cade Cunningham!
This year, Casey originally had some hope for success, but injuries, a COVID outbreak and players simply not playing up to expectations torpedoed any playoff hopes, and it was back to the Lottery hoping for the best.
Detroit Pistons need to look what tanking has brought
Detroit had the third-worst record in the league in 2021-22 and i nthe lottery moved back two spots to get the No. 5 pick. Only problem is, most draft experts see this as a four-player draft, so, of course, Detroit gets fifth.
This means, for three years of constant, soul crushing, losing, Detroit got has this:
- Killian Hayes (good sub at end of the season)
- Cade Cunningham (Jackpot! Should have been Rookie of the Year)
- No. 5 pick (Keegan Murray, Shaedon Sharpe or Benedict Mutherrin most likely) who is expected to be good but not star-level.
So it looks like the Pistons are emulating the ‘Process’ 76ers, one superstar, a ‘meh’ player and we will see if they live up to their hype (and don’t forget how to shoot a basketball).
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If you keep adding promising young players, and the team keeps losing, then those players were probably not that promising to begin with.
Next season, Saddiq Bey and Isaiah Stewart will in their third NBA season, no longer kids. Cunningham will not be a rookie, new to the NBA. Marvin Bailey III (assuming he is re-signed) can’t use the excuse he underachieved because he was with the Sacramento Kings (albeit, a darn good excuse).
If Detroit, assuming no major injuries to key players, is not at least fighting for a Play-in spot, then something is wrong. The players gathered in three years of tanking would not be producing as expected.
It is time for the Pistons to get off the spinning wheel and act like most NBA teams, try to win as many games as possible. They should not look to the Class of 2023 for a saviour (especially since Sharpe was expected to be the top player), because that soon turns into looking at the Class of 2024 ’25 and then ’26.
It is time to put the Pistons Tank in mothballs.