The Pistons are in a place they have no business being

If you had told me before the season that the Detroit Pistons would be missing Cade Cunningham for an extended period, and that Isaiah Stewart would miss 25 games with injuries and suspensions AND the Pistons would still be on the verge of 60 wins, I would have wondered what you were smoking. 

But that’s the exact scenario the Pistons find themselves in with six games left to play, and 55 wins already booked. 

It’s been an unprecedented turn for a franchise that was in the gutter just two seasons ago as the worst team in the NBA and one that had just set the mark for a single-season losing streak. 

I wish I could go back and talk to my bewildered self a few years ago to let me know better days were coming, as the Pistons are now one of the best teams in the league. 

How in the world did this happen? 

The Detroit Pistons are a real team 

My biggest gripe with Troy Weaver was that he never tried to build a coherent roster around his young core. He shuffled in washed veterans and first-round busts by the bus full, and all of them were predictably horrible. 

After the Monty Williams debacle and a franchise worst season, the Pistons finally brought in a new front office, which was the beginning of this shift. 

Trajan Langdon identified JB Bickerstaff as the coach to turn things around, as he had a solid track record of doing so with bad teams in the past. 

Coach Bickerstaff was the start of a cultural change that also needed guys like Tobias Harris, Tim Hardaway Jr., and Malik Beasley to help it take hold. These players provided the veteran leadership and more importantly, talent, that the Pistons had never bothered to put around their young players. 

It has paid off, and the Pistons have embraced their coach and his defense-first style of play that has become their calling card this season. 

It started at the top and trickled down for the Pistons

The Pistons made the necessary changes in the front office and coaching staff that got things started, and it has trickled all the way down to the back end of the roster. 

Langdon not only found the right veteran complements but has found a steady stream of unlikely talent in the G-League and NBA fringes, with guys like Daniss Jenkins and Javonte Green, who have both been huge for the Pistons this season. 

He’s continuing that development with players like Tolu Smith and Isaac Jones in the G-League, two-way players who look like possible keepers. 

With all of the injuries and change the Pistons have faced over the last two years, they have no business being where they are, but it shows that a team is more than just a collection of names on a piece of paper. 

Chemistry, patience and hard work aren’t as sexy as superstars, but they can defeat them, which the Pistons hope to prove in the playoffs.