Pistons news: Good end of the broom, more Cade records and big man James Wiseman

The first step of being a good team is winning the games you should win, which is what the Detroit Pistons did last night against the Charlotte Hornets.

The Hornets are bad, and had several key players out with injuries, so this was a team the Pistons should have been able to handle at home, and outside of a few minutes late in the first half, they did.

The win gave the Pistons a season sweep of the Hornets, a rare feat for a team that has only won 28 games over the last two seasons combined. It's good to be on the right side of the broom for once.

Cade Cunningham and the Pistons struggled from long range, but made up for it in other areas, taking and making more free throws, winning the rebounding battle and dominating points in the paint.

For the second time in a week, Cade Cunningham made history, this time becoming the fastest Pistons player to reach 1,200 points and 400 assists in a season, hitting those marks in game 54, which was one faster than franchise icon Isiah Thomas.

Cunningham has been very good of late, playing at an All-NBA level since before the All-Star break and looking every bit like the franchise player the Pistons need him to be.

But he's not the only one on the rise.

Pistons news: James Wiseman doing big man things

Much maligned center James Wiseman has been playing much better of late himself, mostly because he is focusing on just doing big man things, simplifying his game and not trying to do too much, as he was for most of the season.

Wiseman is setting better screens and rolling to the rim with intent. He's running the floor, blocking shots and not shooting as much, electing to pass instead of forcing things in the post. I never understood why both the Warriors and Pistons were trying to turn him into some kind of stretch five who shoots jumpers when it is clear he needs to master the basics first.

But every now and then he makes a play like this and you realize this kid has a ton of untapped potential if he just takes advantage of his natural size and athleticism and doesn't try to do too much:

But aside from this play, Wiseman just did big man things, grabbing boards, affecting shots, setting screens and dunking the ball off lobs and putbacks, which is all the Pistons need him to do. I wouldn't care if James Wiseman never took another jump shot or tried to score with his back to the basket.

But let's not get carried away, Wiseman has been better but he still has a long way to go. He committed two bad fouls in the 4th, one when he was way late to a rebound and another on a poor seal of Nick Richards, who snagged the rebound and dunked. Wiseman still floats on both ends at times unless he is directly involved in the play. He finds himself in no man's land, loses his defensive assignment or clogs the lane when he doesn't have the ball.

But he's making progress, which is great to see, especially when it's obvious how much his teammates like him. The entire bench jumped up on that dunk and veteran Taj Gibson gave him his props on the bench as if he'd seen his son do something they'd been working on in the driveway.

Wiseman has taken his lumps this season, but is by all accounts a hard worker, so it's nice to see some positive results for him. Let's just hope this mini-surge doesn't tempt Troy Weaver into doing something stupid this summer.