Former Detroit Pistons player takes shot at the front office

The Detroit Pistons can't find any refuge on or off the court.

They are mired in a losing streak that is breaking the collective will of the team's best player, roster and city while being a laughingstock on various social media platforms.

The social media stuff ranges from jokes to pity as it seemed like NBA Twitter was pulling for the Pistons to break their streak last night against the Jazz, more out of sympathy for the beleaguered fans, who are a force on Twitter even though the team is terrible.

There's been plenty of criticism of everyone from the players to the coach to the front office to the owner, who all share some amount of blame for what has become an embarrassing and historically bad season.

Last night, former Piston Nerlens Noel got in on the action, taking a gentle swipe at the Pistons' front office and coaches for letting the young team down.

Nerlens Noel isn't wrong about the Detroit Pistons

Noel was one of Troy Weaver's salary dumps that netted next to nothing in return. He barely played for the Pistons but did get a first-hand look at the team from behind the scenes.

I'm not sure if he is talking about Dwane Casey or the rest of the staff, but I can say this, the team never quit on Casey and they never looked this dysfunctional and that is saying a lot considering they won 17 games last season.

If he's referring to Monty Williams et al., we don't have much to go by, but what we've seen hasn't been good. Players have ill-defined roles and never know if or with whom they'll be playing. Williams refuses to go away from two bigs for some reason and has yo-yo'd the young player's minutes without logic or reason.

It's also hard to argue that the front office hasn't hurt their young team, as Troy Weaver has done little to improve the roster around the young players he has drafted. He has wasted most of his cap space on salary dumps, reclamation projects and washed-up veterans and piled too much onto the shoulders of young players who have never learned how to win in the NBA.

Between the coaching staff jerking around the minutes and roles of the young guys and the front office getting them next to no help, I'd say Noel's assessment is spot on.

Even throughout all of the losing, we haven't heard much negativity from current or former players when it comes to the front office, so it will be interesting if Noel's comments are a one-off or if more former players will get involved as the Pistons sink further into the abyss of this losing streak.