If you were unlucky enough to watch the Detroit Pistons take on the Indiana Pacers last night, you might have wondered where some of these players came from.
Just the day before, the Pistons had signed Chimezie Metu to a 10-day contract and I was immediately suspicious, as it didn't make much sense to sign a journeyman forward unless there was a reason to.
And it turns out that there was, as both Ausar Thompson and Isaiah Stewart have been ruled out for the season, Thompson as he fights a blood clot (scary) and Stewart with a pulled hamstring.
The Thompson news came out of nowhere, as we were told he was battling an asthma-related illness. I am not a doctor, so don't want to speculate about what a blood clot could mean for Ausar's career, and more importantly, his health, so I'll just wish him well until we get more information.
Stewart's injury seems more like a white flag, which is disappointing, as he's only played 46 games this season after playing 50 last year. Stewart has only topped 70 games once in his four-year career, which has to be somewhat concerning considering his new contract hasn't even kicked in yet. We talk a lot about Cade Cunningham being injury-prone, but Stewart seems to get a pass in that regard even though he has missed a ton of games.
Stewart has had a mini-breakout as a shooter this season, but it doesn't much matter if you only play 46 games.
The Pistons are not only bad, but they are injury-riddled for such a young team, something that has to be considered this summer as they try to sort out this mess.
The Detroit Pistons starting five and a modest wish
When you look at the best teams in the NBA, or even the good ones, one thing they have in common is some amount of continuity from season to season. They may tweak the roster, or make additions, but from year to year they rely on a cast of players that stay and grow together.
The Pistons can't even keep a group of players together for half a season, as they jettisoned half of their roster at the trade deadline and have had injury after injury since. This has to be the most disappointing part of a year full of disappointments, as we still have little data about the young players and how they fit together, largely because at least one of them is always injured.
For what seems like the 100th year in a row, the Detroit Pistons will end the season with a drastically different starting lineup than the one they began it with. We have gotten used to seeing G-Leaguers and players who weren't even on the team at the beginning of the season IN THE STARTING LINEUP down the homestretch, which is not a good sign for a team trying to be competitive.
It's a modest wish to see some continuity even within the season, to see the starting lineup from the beginning still there at the end, to not have so many players injured that guys on 10-day contracts are in the rotation, to not be so far out of it that no one cares anyway.