There was a time when the Detroit Pistons were on par with every other young rookie in the NBA.
If you look at the 2020-21 season, the Pistons were among the The Six Worst Teams in the NBA with 20 wins, the other five teams being the Houston Rockets (17), Orlando Magic (21), Cleveland Cavaliers (22), OKC Thunder (22) and Minnesota Timberwolves (23).
One of these things is not like the others.
While the other five rebuilt teams are now at least playoff teams next season or even title contenders, the Pistons are still stuck at the bottom of the standings.
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There are many reasons why these other teams’ rebuilds happened more quickly, not least because they all had stars to trade away to get things going again. Troy Weaver’s Incompetence and you have a Pistons team that has been trending in the wrong direction since then while everyone else has improved.
The team on the list that most resembles the Pistons is the Rockets and Detroit hopes to follow the path they are currently on.
Not long ago, the Houston Rockets were one of the NBA’s bottom teams, winning just 22 games in 2022-23, five more than the Pistons.
Like Detroit, Houston had a young team without any good veterans.
The Rockets won 41 games last season, so what changed?
While Troy Weaver added completely overachieving players like Joe Harris to his roster in the offseason, the Rockets added real talent in Fred VanVleet and Dillon Brooks. Those two veteran additions were enough to propel them into playoff contention last season, as they pushed their young players into more appropriate roles and took some of the pressure off them.
Could the same thing happen to the Pistons?
Cade Cunningham is arguably the best player on both teams, but he’s had very little help. Tobias Harris may not be as good as VanVleet, but he’ll provide a consistent shooting presence that Cunningham hasn’t had.
Malik Beasley and Tim Hardaway Jr. can provide real shooting threats that the Pistons haven’t had, which should make things easier not only for Cade, but also for Jaden Ivey and Ausar Thompson, who will have more space to operate.
No one thought the Rockets would win more than 40 games last season, but they surprised the league when their new veterans combined with their young players, helping their development while moving up the standings.
The same could happen for the Pistons next season, and while they’re unlikely to win more than 40 games, they could make a leap forward like Houston’s now that they finally have veterans capable of playing alongside their young talent.
