The state of the NBA the last time the Detroit Pistons had a winning record

The Detroit Pistons are in the midst of a historic losing streak and having one of the worst seasons in franchise history.

But this isn't a one-off.

Those of us who have been following this team for a long time know that it's been well over a decade since the Pistons were good, with 15 years separating the team from its last playoff win.

The team has never won a playoff game under owner Tom Gores and that streak extends beyond him, as George W. Bush was president the last time the Pistons won a playoff game.

It's going on a decade since the Pistons even had a winning season, as they haven't been above .500 for a season since they went 44-38 in 2015-16 under then head coach Stan Van Gundy.

A lot has changed since then.

The state of the NBA the last time the Detroit Pistons had a winning record

Stan Van Gundy was coach and team President the last time the Pistons had a winning record and Andre Drummond was their best player.

The Pistons did have a ton of good role players on their 2015-16 roster, as Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Marcus Morris, Tobias Harris, Reggie Jackson, Anthony Tolliver, Aron Baynes, Spencer Dinwiddie and Reggie Bullock all went on to have good careers, albeit on other teams.

Stan Van Gundy is now out of the league, and many from that team (Steve Blake, Brandon Jennings, Aron Baynes, Jodie Meeks and Ersan Ilyasova) have joined him, while the ones who remain are veteran role players for their current teams.

No one from the front office to the ball boy remains from that 2015-16 squad that we were sick of for being mediocre, but now seems like a dynasty compared to what we are watching now.

But the NBA as a whole has changed as well.

The 2015-16 NBA season

Some bullet points from the 2015-16 NBA season will drive home just how long it's been since the Pistons were even close to good:

-Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett and Tim Duncan were in their final seasons in the NBA. Bryant since died tragically in a helicopter crash that seems like yesterday, but also like 100 years ago. Tim Duncan grew dreadlocks and Kevin Garnett is a successful podcaster.

-The Cleveland Cavaliers, led by LeBron James and Kyrie Irving, won the NBA championship. A young upstart named Joe Harris was in his second season for the Cavs and Irving still believed the world was round. The Cavs swept the Pistons in the first round.

-Stephen Curry became the league's first unanimous MVP and made the All-Star team for the 3rd time. He's now made nine All-Star appearances in total.

-Karl-Anthony Towns won Rookie of the Year over some guy named Nikola Jokic.

-Kawhi Leonard was the Defensive Player of the Year and played 72 games, the most of his career.

-Veteran guard CJ McCollum, who was but a young man back then, won Most Improved Player.

-Jamal Crawford won 6th Man of the Year. He's now been out of the NBA for four seasons.

-You won't believe this, but Deandre Jordan was 1st-team All NBA center as part of "Lob City" for the LA Clippers with Chris Paul and Blake Griffin. Josh Smith was also on that squad. Boogie Cousins was 2nd team and the Detroit Pistons' Andre Drummond was 3rd team. Drummond and Blake Griffin are the last Pistons to make either an All-Star or All-NBA team.

And that's before you even get to the world, which has changed significantly (mostly for the worse) since then in ways I am not going to get into in a sports article.

After being one of the most successful teams in the NBA for most of my life, the Pistons hit a wall that they haven't been able to climb over. Even their last winning season was mediocre, but sadly "mediocre" is a low bar the Pistons haven't been able to hit since.