John Wall offered Rockets advice that Detroit Pistons should listen to

Rockets guard John Wall (1) shoots the ball as Detroit Pistons forward Saddiq Bey (41) defends. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports
Rockets guard John Wall (1) shoots the ball as Detroit Pistons forward Saddiq Bey (41) defends. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

The Detroit Pistons are once again terrible, currently holding the second-worst record in the NBA after getting drubbed by the Bulls in Paris.

It was likely to be another losing season anyway, but that was all but guaranteed after Cade Cunningham went down with a shin injury, which he recently revealed has been troubling him since high school.

Fans have suffered through another season where the only hope is watching young players get better and praying for lottery odds to land Victor Wembanyama and finally turn this thing around.

Whether you want to consider this tanking or not, the Detroit Pistons aren’t winning many games, which has been a theme around the Motor City for the last three seasons plus.

From 2019 to the present day, the Pistons are just 75-193, which is the worst mark in the NBA. While fans understand this is the difficult part of rebuilding, there is also concern that the young players are learning bad habits and getting all too used to losing.

In a recent interview on Tidal League, John Wall talked about his time on the tanking Houston Rockets, and some of the advice he offered to his young teammates as the veteran of the squad. Wall didn’t hold back and offered up some words that the young Pistons should listen to.

John Wall’s advice pertains to the Detroit Pistons

The Pistons played horribly last night and are en route to having their worst defense in team history. This isn’t just a youth thing, as there are younger teams than the Detroit Pistons who are playing better basketball and at least not embarrassing themselves on a nightly basis.

The Pistons don’t communicate well, don’t share the ball and make a lot of boneheaded plays that often just come down to a complete lack of execution.

This sounds a lot like the Houston Rockets, who have lost 12 in a row, have the worst record in the NBA and are just behind the Pistons when it comes to futility over the last three seasons plus this one.

The Rockets only won 20 games last season with John Wall, who didn’t play a single game for reasons that still haven’t been fully explained. But Wall did share some things that he told his young teammates last season as the veteran on the bench:

"“We had lost 20 in a row…we were tanking…I just wanted to teach them, like, don’t get used to this sh*t, it’s not how the NBA is…I always told Jalen Green, Kevin Porter, don’t get adjusted to this losing sh*t, it’s not how the league is, but at the same time I had to tell them, this sh*t y’all are getting away with over here, you go to any other team, you’d be out of the f*****g league, you won’t play.”"

Wall certainly didn’t hold back in his assessment, but what he says is true, especially the part about not getting “adjusted” to losing. This is something fans rightfully have concern with when it comes to players like Saddiq Bey, Isaiah Stewart and Killian Hayes, who have barely tasted victory in their three seasons in the league.

The last thing you want is for your players to develop a losing mentality, to accept that it is normal to win only 20 games in an NBA season.

We can blame youth and injuries, and those have certainly been a factor, but there have also been plenty of nights when the effort just wasn’t there and the young Detroit Pistons were all to happy to get smacked around with little resistance.

That is the part that needs to change, and whether that takes firing the coach, getting more proven winners on the roster or making some big changes to it, the Pistons need to start winning games. You can’t take the next step until you take the first one and this once proud franchise still has a long way to go to get good.