Alec Burks sets Pistons' record in sizzling January while team sets dubious mark
The Detroit Pistons saw some slight improvement over the month of January, though it didn't translate to many wins.
The bench and offense in general have been better since the trade that brought in Mike Muscala and Danilo Gallinari, whose spacing has provided a blueprint for the type of veteran players the Pistons need to target moving forward.
But the month belonged to Alec Burks, who averaged 17.4 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.1 assists in 15 January games.
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He also set the Pistons' record for most made 3-pointers in a month with 50, shooting over 46 percent from long range in the process. The question now is whether the Pistons will move him at the NBA trade deadline and if his sizzling January boosted his trade value.
While Burks was setting positive records, the Detroit Pistons set a dubious team mark.
The Detroit Pistons are under .500 again
Detroit's loss to the Cavaliers ensured that the Pistons will once again finish the season with more losses than wins, which is nothing new.
The Pistons have now been at .500 or below in 15 of the last 16 seasons and in that time haven't won a single playoff game.
They only made the playoffs twice, getting swept both times and haven't won a playoff game since Barack Obama was president.
Their playoff drought is the longest in the NBA and their playoff losing streak is currently the longest in North American professional sports. After adding a record-tying 28-game losing streak to their resume this season, it's hard to argue that the Pistons haven't been the worst franchise in the NBA (if not all of professional sports) over the last 15 years and counting.
This seemed unfathomable back in the Goin' to Work days, when the Pistons were a mainstay in the Eastern Conference Finals and contended for titles for nearly a decade.
The current team is about as far away from that as a team can be, which shows that you need to enjoy success in the moment and not take it for granted, as it can disappear at any time.
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