Detroit Pistons: The sort of watchables
I would agree that this year’s Pistons’ team has been tough to watch, even worse than last season, as at least we had Cade Cunningham’s Rookie of the Year campaign to get excited about.
The team also played much more competitively last season, at one point covering the spread for more than 20 games in a row.
This season has been tough to digest mostly because many of us thought they would be better. Not good necessarily, but better. I predicted they would win 28 games, a marginal improvement from last season. I doubt they will sniff that, as they’d have to go nearly .500 to do it.
But as bad as it has been, there are still reasons to be excited and to watch, especially in comparison to years past.
The Detroit Pistons have two rookies with a shot at the first-team All-Rookie squad, and while both still need major improvements, they are reason for hope. Jaden Ivey is leading or top-5 in several rookie categories, and Jalen Duren has a chance to break the Pistons’ rookie record for double-doubles held by Greg Monroe.
Killian Hayes has improved and has a chance to cement himself as part of the future core, at least as a backup point guard. Isaiah Stewart has made progress as a stretch four and has opened up some exciting possibilities for himself.
It really just comes down to one word: Hope.
As in they have some, even though this season has been brutal to watch at times. Better days are coming, the Detroit Pistons have as much young talent as they’ve had in years, there’s probably a new coach on the way and there is a chance they’ll add another exciting draft pick.
The Detroit Pistons also have copious amounts of cap space to add talent in the offseason, so there is some reason to believe the leap they failed to make this season is coming soon.
That can’t be said about about the stretch that was really the most unwatchable.