For the last five years, fans of the Detroit Pistons have dreamed of supporting a competitive team and we may have finally gotten our wish.
Detroit cleared their house of the stench of Troy Weaver and Monty Williams, replacing them with Trajan Langdon and JB Bickerstaff who were immediate upgrades just by being competent.
And it has showed: This is the best roster the Pistons have had in five seasons and they are playing more competent basketball than they have in that time. Bickerstaff has his team defending at a high level most of the time and they look like an actual NBA basketball team.
But if the Pistons were a comic book character, they’d be the Joker, the agent of chaos from which you never know what you are getting.
The Pistons will look like the Dream Team for stretches, then blow 20-point leads the next. Their shooters are often all or nothing, sometimes in the same game in the case of Malik Beasley, who will look hopeless on 3-4 shots, then get hot and hit five in row.
They’ve committed bizarre and untimely turnovers and then immediately backed it up with a mind-blowing play like the game-tying lob to Jalen Duren against the Miami Heat.
Just about every game has been an emotionally draining experience for fans that may eventually send me to therapy or the cardiac center.
This last week may have been the wildest and most chaotic in recent memory, as the Joker did bath salts and started rampaging through the city, breaking up his carnage with a little song and dance.
The Detroit Pistons' chaotic week
If you want to know how exciting this week has been, just look at the scores. The Pistons’ last five games have been decided by a combined 13 points, over half of which came in last night’s overtime defeat to the Bucks.
Of the Pistons’ last five games, four have been decided by two points or fewer, with only last night’s loss to the Bucks the exception. It took 17 free throws from Giannis to hold off the Pistons, another weird problem in their chaotic season, as Detroit never gets a call.
The one-point loss to Charlotte was decided on the final shot when the Pistons failed to secure a loose ball and the Hornets got off a buzzer beater.
The Pistons then returned the favor to Atlanta, beating them on a buzzer-beater/blocked shot from Cade Cunningham, who probably gets the worst whistle in the entire NBA.
The Houston loss was a similarly bizarre ending that included big runs from both teams and a bunch of 50/50 balls the Pistons didn’t secure.
The win against Miami was one of the strangest in memory, as it was assisted by veteran coach Erik Spoelstra, who had one of the worst late-game meltdowns I’ve ever seen from a coach.
Another overtime loss last night required the Pistons to miss two free throws that would have won the game in regulation.
This team is chaotic in ways both good and bad, but they have certainly been entertaining and competitive, which is what we’ve been asking for. But could they be these things without nearly giving me a heart attack every night?
This is going to be a wild season. Eat your vegetables.