Detroit Pistons' grades for February 2024: Promise and inconsistency

Now five months into the NBA season, and with just two more to go, the Detroit Pistons have still not achieved double-digit wins. Still, February saw Detroit collect three more wins, increasing their total now to nine. I’ve said it for a few months now, the Pistons are not the worst team in the league. Even with a historic 28 game losing streak, they still don’t own sole possession of the worst record in the NBA. They were competitive in almost all games in February and post trade deadline, the roster isn’t half bad now either. 

That trend hasn't carried into March yet, but February did bring some hope to Detroit.

So let’s take a look at the February report card for each position group. 

Detroit Pistons' report card for February 2024

Point Guards/Guards: B

January was a good month for the Pistons’ guards. Cade battled through injuries and had his stats decline, but Jaden Ivey and Marcus Sasser more than made up for it. This past month, Cade took over once again. Now healthy, Cunningham is averaging 3.6 more points per game, up to 22 per game, 1.6 more rebounds, up to 4.9, and almost .5 more stocks per game. What’s most promising with Cade over this last month was his three point shot. It looks extremely smooth and seamless, and his percentage rose 12 percebt from last month. He connected on a scorching 44 percent from deep in February.

Ivey and Sasser both had a great January. This past month, Ivey continued to increase his ppg, now up to 18, but his rebounding, assists, steals and blocks all decreased slightly. But, similar to Cade, Ivey’s three point shooting improved. After shooting a respectable 36 percent from three in January, Ivey hit on an impressive 43 percent of his attempts in February. 

Thanks to a slight knee injury against the Knicks, Sasser saw his minutes decline as he rested, but during his time on the court this month, Marcus saw every stat increase outside of his blocks. The rookie guard even hit on almost 50 percent of his three point attempts. 

The two new guard additions, Quentin Grimes and Malachi Flynn used most of the month to get their footing in Detroit after the trade deadline. Flynn saw his minutes increase as Sasser nursed his knee injury, but Grimes is an expected contributor for this team moving forward and played as such, at least defensively.

As they get acclimated, I would expect Grimes' offensive numbers to level out.