Top 100 players list shows 2 major problems for the Pistons

It takes talent to win in the NBA, something the Detroit Pistons should be well aware of, as they’ve been lacking it for years. 

Instead, their engine has operated on the fuel of hope, a constant stream of young players we are told will be the next great thing only to watch them spin their wheels on bad teams. 

For the past several seasons, the Pistons have only had one or two players ranked in the top-100 of the league, not a number that is going to translate to many wins, as the good teams all have several players (or in the case of Boston, the entire starting lineup) in these rankings. 

In a recent article, HoopsHype ranked the top-100 players currently in the NBA and the Pistons were not well represented, something fans have gotten used to over the years. These rankings don’t just reveal that the Pistons aren’t very good, but also show some systemic problems that have caused it. 

Top-100 players in the NBA: Only 2 Detroit Pistons 

There were only two of the current Pistons on the list of top-100 players: 

#37: Cade Cunningham 

#90: Tobias Harris 

This represents the Pistons perfectly, as Cunningham has held that spot or near it for his entire career. You can blame him or the team but he hasn’t moved up the list since joining the league. 

Like the Pistons themselves, hope is all we have when it comes to Cunningham, as we’ve not yet gotten the results. 

Then we have Tobias Harris, the veteran in the latter stages of his career near the back end of the top-100, a spot formerly reserved for guys like Jerami Grant and then Bojan Bogdanovic. 

If your best players are an unproven guard you hope will reach the 2nd-tier of NBA talent and a veteran clinging onto top-100 status, you probably aren’t going to win many games. 

These rankings may seem arbitrary because they are, but they do reveal two larger problems the Pistons have had for years other than an obvious lack of talent.