Why the Detroit Pistons will own the Eastern Conference soon

Detroit Pistons: The purgatory teams

For many many years, the Detroit Pistons were stuck in NBA purgatory, perpetually just in or just out of the playoffs, not good enough to make a real run but not bad enough to secure a top pick in the NBA Draft.

It’s exactly where you don’t want to be, and thankfully the Pistons finally broke the cycle by tearing down their roster and front office and starting over from scratch.

Right now there are several teams in the East that could find themselves stuck in the wheel of mediocrity with no real path to get out. The Hornets are the ultimate purgatory team, as they seem to get the 9th seed every year.

I’m not sure they’ve made any offseason additions that are going to change that. Same potentially for the Knicks and Wizards. The Knicks did add Jalen Brunson and are apparently going after Kyrie Irving and Donovan Mitchell among others, and if they land Mitchell, that could be enough to propel them into the top of the conference. But if they don’t? Hello 9th seed!

The Wizards re-signed Bradley Beal, but they haven’t done anything else to suggest they are going to bust out of purgatory any time soon.

The Detroit Pistons wil hopefully be rising just as the top teams are falling and some of the others are still spinning their wheels, stuck between competing and rebuilding.

They still have to take care of business on the court but the Detroit Pistons are in a position to rise from the ashes of their own failure and re-take their rightful place at the top fo the Eastern Conference.