My New Year’s resolution as a fan of the Detroit Pistons was not to overreact to individual games but instead try to see the big picture.
So I am going to ignore last night’s game (a complete thrashing by the 76ers), especially since most of the best players were sitting on the bench. What did you expect from a team that had Kevin Knox and the ghost of Nerlens Noel in the starting lineup?
I’m not going to call for Dwane Casey to be fired (but are we getting close yet?) and I’m not going to throw out a hot take about how Troy Weaver should be on the hot seat (he’s not, but he does deserve some blame for putting together the worst defense in team history two years in a row) or say something silly like Jaden Ivey is a bust (come on, now).
Instead, I am going to embrace the tank, something I swore never to do, as hopes and prayers in the lottery are the only thing we have except for the progression of the young players, which has been stunted immensely with Cade Cunningham out.
So in the spirit of cynical optimism, I am going to say that the Detroit Pistons only have 10 important games remaining before the 2022-23 season is mercifully over.
Detroit Pistons schedule: The tanking home stretch
The Detroit Pistons aren’t the only team sending their fans to therapists, in fact, they miraculously aren’t even the worst team in the NBA, that honor currently belongs to the Houston Rockets, who are somehow a game worse than Detroit even though they haven’t had the injury woes.
The Hornets, Spurs, Magic and Wizards also stink, so we could see some epic tanking down the stretch as teams dream about adding Victor Wembanyama or Scoot Henderson to their roster.
Of course, even if the Detroit Pistons end up with the worst record, there is a 72.6 percent chance that they won’t get a top-2 pick, but I am trying to lift spirits here, not crush them, as we may be doomed to repeat this again next season if the Pistons drop out of the top 3-4 in the draft.
I’m here for the 27.4 percent chance, so here are the games the Detroit Pistons need to lose to make sure they at least get that:
- Jan. 28 vs. Rockets
- Feb. 1 vs. Wizards
- Feb. 3 vs. Hornets
- Feb. 10 vs. Spurs
- Feb. 23 @ Magic
- Feb. 27 @ Hornets
- March 9 vs. Hornets
- March 14 @ Wizards
- March 31 @ Rockets
- Apr. 2 @ Magic
As you can see, the Charlotte Hornets are the team most standing in the way of Detroit’s preferred destiny, as the Pistons play them three more times this season, with two of them being on the road.
I’m not too worried about the Wizards, as the Pistons rarely beat them and the Spurs handled Detroit easily in their only matchup so far.
That leaves two apiece with the Rockets and Magic. Houston is terrible, has lost seven in a row and I would expect a split to be the worst-case scenario against them. The Magic have shown some life and are currently five games ahead of the Pistons in the standings, but Detroit has beaten them twice and will bring their A-Game against the team that has become their rival this season.
I’m sure the Detroit Pistons will pick up a few wins in their other remaining games, but these are the ones that really matter. I hate cheering for my team to lose, but failing to get maximum odds for a top pick after what we’ve endured this season would really just be the icing on a crap cake.
So let’s stay positive! 27.4 percent isn’t that bad! Right?!?