The reason the Detroit Pistons have been bad for so long

Detroit Pistons draft: More horrible picks

2017

Luke Kennard: Anytime you can lock up the two slowest white guys in the draft two years in a row, you have to jump at it! Who needs Donovan Mitchell, Bam Adebayo, Jarrett Allen or OG Anunoby when you can have a traffic cone who can shoot 3-point shots? I tried to talk myself into Kennard (did not want him to be the pick), which turned out to be one of my worst takes of all time.

2018

For a bad team, the Pistons sure didn’t have many draft picks in this era. Another year without a first rounder, so they took Khyri Thomas and Bruce Brown in the second round instead. Brown continued the tradition of the Pistons actually hitting in the second round only to trade the player away for nothing to watch him become good on another team.

2019

Sekou Doumbouya: In the running with Ellenson for worst player the Pistons have ever drafted in the first round. He sits the bench for a G-League team in Delaware now. There were a whole bunch of good role players taken after Doumbouya who are still thriving in the NBA.

2020

Killian Hayes: Figured out why the Pistons still suck yet? The hits keep on coming with another Frenchman. At least Killian is still in the NBA (for now) but he’s not lived up to being the 7th pick while we’ve had to watch Tyrese Haliburton turn into a star. If the 2020 NBA Draft were done again, Hayes may not go in the first round.

Isaiah Stewart: A solid pick outside of the lottery, could he be more than just a role player? Imagine if the Pistons hadn’t whiffed on Killian.

Saddiq Bey: A good pick at his spot, but he now plays for Atlanta.

2021-Present

Cade Cunningham

Jaden Ivey

Jalen Duren

After 13 straight drafts of futility in the first round, the Detroit Pistons FINALLY have some players to build around in Cunningham, Ivey and Duren, who are now the core of the team. To show you how bad they’ve been at drafting, these three formed the new “core” just this season. Cunningham didn’t even play and the other two were rookies, yet they were easily the best young players on the team.

If you were to put random names in a hat and choose them you might have picked better than the Pistons have prior to 2021, as they managed to miss out on star talent just about every year, missed obvious league trends and pretty much exclusively made the wrong pick, which is why they haven’t won a playoff game in 15 years.