Will the Pistons be in a big hole after the first 10 games?

The Detroit Pistons didn’t win a game in preseason, but hope to turn things around once the games start to count.

This is one of the youngest teams in the NBA and they are missing some regulars, so expect a slow start for the Pistons as they try to build chemistry and figure out how all of these pieces best fit.

Dwane Casey has a tough job ahead of him as he tries to balance player development with being competitive and actually trying to win games.

The Pistons schedule doesn’t help much, as the team starts with a 10-game stretch that could have them in a hole before their shoes are even broken in.

In my original month-by-month predictions, I had Detroit winning three games in October, but after some injuries and seeing them in preseason, those first 10 games look a lot more daunting.

Detroit Pistons schedule: How many wins in the first 10 games?

Here are the first 10 games of the Pistons schedule:

Oct. 19 vs. Orlando

Oct. 21 @ NYK

Oct. 22 @ Pacers

Oct. 25 @ Washington

Oct. 26 vs. Atlanta

Oct. 28 vs. Atlanta

Oct. 30 vs. Golden State

Oct. 31 @ Milwaukee

Nov. 2 @ Milwaukee

Nov. 4 vs. Cleveland

The first thing you might notice is that the Detroit Pistons have THREE back-to-backs in the first 10 games, so the NBA didn’t do them any favors. The league likes to front load the schedules of the bad teams so more of their meaningful games (against other bad teams) are later in the season in an effort to keep fans engaged.

The good news is that the first four games are winnable, as Orlando, New York, Indiana and Washington figure to be near Detroit in the standings this season. The bad news is that the four games include a road back-to-back, which is never easy no matter the opponents.

Then they have two at home against Atlanta before things get really nasty with games against the defending champion Warriors before heading to Milwaukee for two games against the Bucks and coming back home to face Cleveland and their new look lineup led by Donovan Mitchell.

I’d say the absolute best-case scenario is that Detroit wins four of these games and keeps some amount of hope alive for the season as they start to get some guys back from injury. The worst-case scenario is that they start the season 0-10 and people like me have to start writing articles about Victor Wembanyama’s favorite flavor of soda and whether Scoot Henderson might like coney dogs.

Of course, the first 10 games won’t make or break the season, but they will set a tone, so hopefully the Pistons will start to play better, win some unlikely games and be the competitive team that Troy Weaver says is coming.

Pistons’ fans understand that this team is still rebuilding and not likely to make the playoffs anyway, but we’d like to see clear development and a team that competes every night even if they are losing. These first 10 games are going to tell us a lot about this team, so let’s hope to see better execution and a young team that looks to be on the rise instead of spinning its wheels.