Detroit Pistons news: Limits of small ball and the Wembanyama chase

The Detroit Pistons took on the New York Knicks yesterday with just one center (Isaiah Stewart) in the lineup. Stewart has been playing more at power forward this season and was giving up serious size to Mitchell Robinson, who killed the Pistons on the boards early on.

Considering the context, they put up a good effort, keeping it close until the end when New York was able to pull away.

The Pistons have had some success of late with small ball, using lineups that feature Hamidou Diallo as a center or power forward and hoping to run the other team off the floor.

It worked well against Rudy Gobert and the Timberwolves, and at times against the New Orleans Pelicans, though Jonas Valanciunas was eventually able to impose his will in the paint.

The Knicks have a huge front court with Julius Randle and Mitchell Robinson and it showed against the shorthanded Detroit Pistons, as the Knicks won the battle of the boards (52-38), blocks (6-4), points in the paint (44-32), and maybe most importantly fouls and free throws.

The Pistons committed 22 fouls against just 12 for the Knicks and watched New York shoot 16 more free throws, many of which were Detroit fouling Randle (who ended with 42 points and 15 rebounds) to prevent easy buckets.

Small ball can work in stretches, but yesterday’s game showed the limitations over the course of a whole game. In other words, the Detroit Pistons need at least one center other than Isaiah Stewart.

The loss was the Pistons’ second in a row, but they have some serious competition for the bottom of the standings.

Detroit Pistons news: Draft odds for Victor Wembanyama as teams tank away

It’s getting ugly at the bottom of the standings, as all of the worst teams are in the midst of losing streaks.

The Houston Rockets currently have the worst record after losing 10 in a row, but they are just a half game below the Charlotte Hornets, who have lost four in a row themselves.

Next up are the Pistons, who are still clinging to the best odds to land the number one pick and Victor Wembanyama, with a 14 percent chance at the top spot and a 52.1 percent chance to stay in the top four. Their highest odds for any individual pick is for the sixth, for which they have a 26 percent chance. That is the worst-case scenario and not something most fans even want to entertain after another miserable season.

The Spurs have lost five in a row and are now just 2.5 games behind Detroit, and Orlando, Washington and the LA Lakers are all on short losing streaks of their own, so no team in the bottom seven has won recently.

Landing in the bottom three is no guarantee of anything, as the Detroit Pistons found out the hard way last season, so who knows, maybe the Lottery Gods will reward Detroit for winning a few down the stretch.

One thing that is for certain is that this race to the bottom is going to be ugly and the Pistons have 10 more games against the bottom feeders that we will have to endure.