The Detroit Pistons just finished their fourth-straight season of tanking, and so far, the results have been mixed.
Yes, they did get the high-end talent in Cade Cunningham and Jaden Ivey to build around, cleared the worst contracts off their books and cleaned the slate for a fresh start.
It was understandable given that they had a mediocre and bloated roster that wasn’t going anywhere. On paper, tanking makes sense, as it allows teams like Detroit that aren’t free-agent destinations the chance to acquire superstars.
Whether tanking is good for the sport, or whether the Detroit Pistons should have been doing it as egregiously as they did this season are definitely arguments to be had.
So as the Detroit Pistons try to go “The Process” 76ers route to build a sustainable winner, the Denver Nuggets and Miami Heat (probably) are headed to the NBA Finals after taking a much different route.
These two teams have shown that tanking is not the only way to build a team, and with smart moves and the right decisions, you can build a sustainably great team without losing on purpose to do it.
Here’s where the Nuggets and Heat have succeeded and why they are perpetually in the playoffs.
Detroit Pistons: Why the Heat and Nuggets never tank
Coaching and Culture
The Detroit Pistons have not won a playoff game since 2008, a streak of futility that is the worst in the NBA.
That also happens to be the year that Erik Spoelstra was named head coach of the Miami Heat. In that 15-year span, the Heat have only missed the playoffs three times, which is a run of sustained success that any organization would happily take.
Mike Malone has had a similar run of success since he was hired in 2015, as the Nuggets have only missed the playoffs three times under his watch.
Both of these teams have built a culture that starts with the head coach and permeates down. They didn’t panic when the team didn’t miss the playoffs, didn’t fire their head coach or blow up the team after one bad season.
Instead they continued to build, believed in the coach the hired and are rewarded with playoff appearances nearly every season.
The Detroit Pistons have had seven head coaches in that span and each and every one of them played lip service to a “culture” that has yet to materialize.
The Nuggets and Heat have shown the importance of finding the right coach and sticking with them long enough to build something. The Pistons tried with Dwane Casey, but were never ever to build that culture because they were tanking all but one season he was the coach.
With a constant rotating cast of young players and cast-off veterans, Casey had little chance to develop a sustainable culture and system.
So the Detroit Pistons are once again searching for the right coach for their “culture” while the Heat and Nuggets just keep chugging along with the same faces. Hopefully Detroit’s next hire will be someone they can stick with for the long haul.
Detroit Pistons: Why the Heat and Nuggets never tank
Nailing the Draft no matter what
Since the Heat drafted Dwyane Wade with the 5th pick in the 2003 NBA Draft (sigh), they have chosen in the lottery exactly four times, selecting Michael Beasley, Justice Winslow, Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro.
Beasley went 2nd, but other than that, all of these guys were 10 or lower. The Pistons have been in the lottery nine times in that span and all of their picks but one were in the top-10. This first shows how reckless the Pistons have been with their 1st-round picks, as a team that hasn’t won a playoff game since 2008 should have had more lottery picks.
The highest drafted player on the Heat right now is Cody Zeller, who was drafted 4th by the Bobcats.
The Nuggets have only been in the lottery four times since 2003, with just two of those picks coming in the top 10.
Wait, I thought the only way to build a team was to select in the top-5 for multiple years? The Nuggets’ highest pick is Jamal Murray, who went 7th, same spot where the Pistons landed Killian Hayes.
Both the Heat and Nuggets have made savvy moves in free agency and trades, but they have also both drafted extremely well no matter where they were. Yes, they have both missed on some picks (every team does) but they have regularly found good players with later picks.
The Heat nailed their late lottery picks with Adebayo and Herro but also found guys like Precious Achiuwa and Josh Richardson later in the draft as well as a trio of undrafted players in Max Strus, Gabe Vincent and Duncan Robinson who are currently contributing to their playoff run in big ways.
You may not be able to get your superstar late in the draft, but you can find good role players that fit your system, which is what Miami has done.
The Nuggets did find their superstar in the second round of the draft, as every team missed out on two-time MVP Nikola Jokic, who is the best player in the world right now and was taken with the 41st pick.
Their only top-5 pick is Aaron Gordon, who was selected by the Magic. Other than that, the Nuggets have cobbled together a team out of later lottery picks, second rounders and role players they got in free agency or trades.
Having a top-5 pick helps and I am sure these two teams wish they had them some years, but it’s more important to identify talent no matter where you draft and to find the right guys to fit your culture, coach and system, which both Miami and Denver have done brilliantly.
The Detroit Pistons have not only missed on tons of picks, but have been terrible at finding talent outside of the draft and the quality role players they have drafted seem to always end up on other teams, as we are currently seeing with Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Bruce Brown on the Nuggets.
Detroit Pistons: Why the Heat and Nuggets never tank
Patience
Mike Malone said something this postseason that really stuck with me, as he talked about the importance of patience, of being given time to build something.
Malone said that he was once approached about a trade of Jamal Murray for a “marquee” player (SUBSCRIPTION REQUIRED) and that he was able to talk the team into keeping Murray.
Even the Heat, the model franchise of sustained success, had people telling them to “blow it up” this season, as they were only the 8th seed and not really a contender, so what is the point?
Ring culture has ruined the NBA in some ways, as many fans consider titles to be the only thing that matters, and if you aren’t winning one, you may as well be tanking for the #1 pick. It’s really that black and white to some people. It’s especially myopic right now, as the NBA is more wide open than it’s ever been, as we just watched an 8th seed plow through the top-seeded teams in the Eastern Conference.
What this misguided ethos of ring culture ignores is that basketball is supposed to be entertainment and there is nothing entertaining about watching your team win 17 games. It also ignores that teams take time to build, as we’ve seen with the Heat and Nuggets, who just kept tinkering away around their stars until they eventually got a Finals team.
This is going to be the hard part for the Detroit Pistons, as fans have been patient for a long time and it has not paid off. But the last thing Troy Weaver can do now is to give into pressure to make sloppy moves, overpay the wrong guy, change out coaches every other season and not allow this team to grow and build.
It’s not an easy task in our “on demand” world where fans have the patience of small children angrily scrolling on their iPads, searching for the next shiny thing.
But if the Detroit Pistons ever want to be a team that is regularly in the playoffs, they need to actually build a culture and not just talk about it, starting by hiring the right head coach, continuing to build steadily through the draft, free agency and trades, and giving that foundation some time to develop together.