Pistons news: Detroit streaking, Ivey dishing and 2 bigs struggling

The Detroit Pistons suffered their 50th loss of the season, the first team in the NBA to get to that dubious mark.

They’ve lost eight in a row and now sit alone as the worst team in the NBA, a half game behind Houston. They once again ran out a rag-tag rotation and the more cynical fan may say that Detroit is trying to secure the league’s worst record.

It’s been tough to watch, as the Pistons once again got down big early and tried to make a comeback only to come up short in the 4th quarter, which has been a theme of late. But don’t mistake this for a young team playing hard, as this has more to do with the other team letting up after getting an early 20 point lead, which was the case again last night. Portland was on the second game of a back-to-back and was able to turn it on when they needed it.

Jaden Ivey shot the ball poorly against Portland, missing all seven of his 3-point attempts, but he did rack up 13 assists. He’s averaged six per game over his last 20 games, trying his best to win a spot on the All-Rookie team.

There wasn’t much to get excited about in this one, though we did get to see a bit more of the 2-big experiment, the results of which have not been encouraging.

Pistons news: The 2-big experiment not working so far

I have to qualify what I’m about to say with the disclaimer that the sample size is small, and in the case of last night, Detroit was missing several key players, so it’s not like this is necessarily an accurate indication of how this will go over a whole season, but so far, the 2-big experiment has been a flop.

Of all of the big man pairings, only one of them has a positive net rating. Isaiah Stewart and James Wiseman have played 27 minutes together and put up a 109 offensive rating and a 105 defensive rating. It’s not much, but hopefully this is an indication that the two can play together next season, hopefully off the Detroit bench after they add more talent.

The rest of the big man pairings have been a disaster so far. Here they are with their total minutes as a duo, as well as the offensive, defensive and net ratings:

• Isaiah Stewart/Jalen Duren: 464 minutes, 106.9 off. rating, 119.6 def. rating, -12.7
• Isaiah Stewart/Marvin Bagley III: 153 minutes, 95.1 off. rating, 118.9 def. rating, -23.8
• Marvin Bagley III/Jalen Duren: 20 mins, 83 off. rating, 117 def. rating, -33
• Marvin Bagley III/James Wiseman: 16 mins., 85.7 off. rating, 138.2 def. rating, -52.5

Ouch. Last night MBIII and Wiseman got the start together, but the plug had to be pulled quickly, as the Pistons couldn’t get a stop and there was zero spacing on offense, predictable for two guys who have a hard time switching on the perimeter and want to post up like it’s 1995.

That duo has only played 16 minutes together, but all of those troubles are on full display, as the Trail Blazers were just running simple pick-and-rolls with Lillard, and when the Detroit bigs dropped into coverage he just stepped up and hit practice jumpers all night. To be able to go -52.5 in only 16 minutes is actually quite an achievement.

We haven’t gotten to see Wiseman paired with Duren yet, but I would expect some of the same problems on both ends.

Right now, it looks like Stewart and Wiseman might be the best complements for each other, which could work out if Detroit adds a wing in the offseason and puts both of them on the bench.