The Detroit Pistons will be woefully shorthanded against the OKC Thunder tonight, but that is by design.
Detroit added Jalen Duren, Ausar Thompson, Duncan Robinson and Tobias Harris to an injury report that already had Cade Cunningham and Isaiah Stewart on it. If you are counting, that’s Detroit’s entire starting lineup plus their best bench player.
Of the new players added, only Ausar Thompson is listed as questionable, and the rest are all doubtful for tonight’s game against the best team in the league.
If you are wondering why the Pistons are suddenly hurt on a night when they will clearly need all hands on deck, you just have to take a look at the schedule.
Detroit Pistons schedule: Two games in 24 hours
The Pistons will play in OKC tonight at 9:30 PM ET, then fly back to Detroit and play tomorrow at 8:00 PM ET, so they will have two games and a flight in less than 24 hours.
Detroit’s chances of beating OKC without Cade Cunningham were already low, so they may as well get an extra night of rest for everyone else with more winnable home games against the Raptors and Timberwolves looming.
The “load management” crowd won’t like it, but they’d like it even less if any of these guys were hurt in the playoffs, so I don’t blame Detroit for sitting guys in this context.
The Pistons aren’t throwing the game
That doesn’t mean the Pistons won’t try to win tonight in OKC, and this has a chance to be a huge confidence builder for the bench guys who will be taking over.
We could see players like Marcus Sasser and Chaz Lanier getting up plenty of shots, which is a good thing, as the Pistons may have to rely on one of them in the playoffs if anyone gets hurt.
Kevin Huerter and Daniss Jenkins have both been hot late, so this will give them an extended chance to continue that rhythm.
Injuries are never a good thing, but you have to make the most of them, which is what the Pistons have done with guys stepping up all season.
Leaning on depth isn’t just a strategy to keep guys healthy but also to get role players reps in big games. This is something Gregg Popovich used to do regularly before the talking heads convinced fans that “load management” was the league’s number one problem.
Pop would sit his regulars for 1-2 big games per season to allow his bench guys to get a feel for this environment, so if he ever had to use them later in the season, they wouldn't be shellshocked by the moment.
It’s a smart strategy and hopefully the Pistons can steal a win on the road with their backups, which will build their confidence and get them going before the playoffs.