The Detroit Pistons have not given fans much to be optimistic about over the last 15 years or so and the cycle has started again.
A new team president, GM and coach are selling the same old hope trotted out by the last regime, but this time Pistons fans seem a bit leerier.
Cautiously pessimistic would be a good term for it, as we want to believe but have been burned too many times.
If you asked fans how many games this team was going to win next season, you’d probably find that even the wildly optimistic group doesn’t pick a number much higher than 30, which tells you a lot about where this franchise is now.
A recent article in HoopsRumors set a modest over/under for Pistons’ wins next season and the poll results indicate that maybe fans are a little more hopeful than it appears.
Detroit Pistons over/under: 24.5 wins
Using an amalgam of various betting sites, HoopsRumors set the over/under at 24.5 wins for the Pistons next season.
On one hand, this would be a 10-win boost from last season, which would appear to be progress. On the other, 24 wins is still terrible, though it would be their highest win total since the 2018-19 season, the last time Detroit made the playoffs. Sigh.
The site ran a poll just beneath to ask fans if they thought the Pistons would exceed this total and over 60 percent said yes, which was surprising.
It is hard to believe anything about this team until we see it on the court, but arguments can be made for either bet. Here’s why you take the over and why you don’t.