Pistons news: Nothing but negatives, MBIII and the culture of losing

The Detroit Pistons were crushed last night by the Orlando Magic in what was probably the last game of the season that they had a chance to win.

It was a 26-point blowout instead, and got so bad at points that the Magic pulled their starters and Pistons’ fans started turning off the TV.

There really wasn’t much positive to take from the game, particularly in the net rating, as every single Piston who stepped on the court ended up with a negative in the +/- column, which doesn’t happen often, even for a team that has now lost 20 of its last 21 games.

After returning from injury for just seven games, Marvin Bagley III had to leave the game after battering his head, which is pretty much how this season has gone for him. MBIII has had zero injury luck and is at risk of failing to play in half the games this season, a problem that has plagued him for his entire career.

But the play that really symbolized this game was when Eugene Omoruyi knocked away the ball for a steal that ended up in the hands of Killian Hayes for what looked to be an uncontested fast break. Instead, Hayes slowed down and inexplicably tried to pass the ball back to Omoruyi, who promptly had it swatted into the 10th row of seats.  That lackadaisical approach and failure to execute the basic plays has been a hallmark of a season that can’t end soon enough.

But even when it does, will the stink of it linger?

Detroit Pistons: The culture of losing

Since the beginning of the 2019-20 season until now, the Detroit Pistons have won 79 games, which if you are counting is fewer than 20 wins per season on average.

They’ve lost the second-most games of any team in the NBA in the last decade, only behind the Orlando Magic, the team that kicked their shorthanded butts last night. The Pistons haven’t won a playoff game since 2008, and there is a whole segment of the fanbase that has never seen this team be really good.

The question is whether that kind of epic losing becomes part of the culture or if it ends as soon as the Pistons have finally amassed a coherent roster around the talent they do have. Detroit has some of the best fans in all of sports, evidenced by the fact that they show up even though every team in town is bad.

But seasons like this will suck the life out of a fanbase. Losing with young players is one thing, but intentionally holding out your best veterans year after year in an attempt to lose more games is soul-crushing for a fanbase.

And what about the players? It’s hard to keep up the focus and intensity in this type of season, especially when you’ve been given every indication that winning doesn’t matter and mistakes don’t really count.

I don’t expect the Pistons to win another game this season, and if you watch the body language right now, neither do they. I’m not sure that is something that can just be turned off, so if Troy Weaver really thinks this team is going to be good next year, it will take not only getting some more talent but players who know what it takes to win in the NBA.

Detroit has talked A LOT about culture, but right now, there isn’t much of one other than that of losing, which is not the identity Troy Weaver was hoping to build.