The last five years of Detroit Pistons basketball has been anything but “must-see” TV.
They’ve won 14, 17, 23, 20 and 20 games in that span, worst in the NBA and with few highlights worth mentioning.
It’s easy to look at the Pistons 2024-25 schedule and see more of the same, as the Pistons will be underdogs in most games and have to prove they are no longer one of the bottom feeders before anyone is going to believe it.
That includes most NBA sites, who predict the Pistons to be back in the 25-win range, which sadly would be their best season in over half a decade.
When I peruse the schedule these days, I am looking for narratives and drama more than wins, for spaces in the schedule where the Pistons could take off or stretches where they are likely to fall off.
My five must-see Pistons games of the season are not big matchups against title contenders, but those against possible peers, games with narratives that are either personal or will tell us about the direction of the franchise.
Here are five games you shouldn’t miss and why.
Detroit Pistons @ Cleveland Cavaliers: October 25th
The Pistons won’t have to wait long to get a possible revenge game, as they play new coach JB Bickerstaff’s old team in the second game of the season.
Bickerstaff was the coach of the Cavs for four whole seasons after taking over for 11 games in 2019-20.
He took a team that had won 19 games and immediately improved it, finishing with 22, 44, 51 and 48 wins in four seasons before being fired, some would say unfairly. Bickerstaff had the Cavs in the 2nd round of the playoffs before losing to eventual champion Boston while Cleveland was missing its best player.
It will be interesting to see what kind of response Bickerstaff gets from the Cleveland crowd, as he was a big part of the reason they turned things around but ultimately came up short in the playoffs.
Getting fired is part of the gig, and I am sure Bickerstaff understands the business, but that doesn’t mean he won’t be eager to hand his old team an “L” and serve notice that they have new competition in the Central Division.
Coach Bickerstaff’s young Pistons will want to get their new coach a win, and they’ll need it during an early 6-game stretch that could put them in a hole.