Here’s something I love: The Detroit Pistons with a win record of 3-5, better than the combined record of the Bucks and the Sixers. Given Detroit’s slow start to the season, and that lopsided match against the Knicks last Friday, I thought we were in for another season where the best the Pistons could hope for was besting their last season record of 14-68.
Yes, there could still be a slump; yes, the play-in still feels like an aspirational goal for this team, but neither of those outcomes takes away from the truth of the matter which is, the league is better when the Pistons are competitive.
This is a franchise with a proud, hard-fought history, a winning history, and one that’s been hard to see these last few seasons under the tarnish of poor decision making and ill-timed coaching fits. Going back to Cade Cunningham’s rookie season, coached by Dwane Casey, that team and the iterations that followed were too good to be as bad as they appeared. Casey — who transitioned into a front office role with the team last season —is a great coach, if a touch old fashioned. Admittedly, I miss being more proximal to him for the Casey-isms alone he’d offer, e.g. More than one way to skin a cat. A front office, mentorship-driven fit was always the goal of Casey even as head coach, given the rebuilding stage the team was in and how in two years its median age of players dipped to one of the youngest in the league.
Skip to last season, Monty Williams’ brief tenure and that dismal aforementioned season record, and rather than treat it as an unfortunate blip, the Pistons young talent took it as a lesson. Cade is in his fourth season and has lost more than any of his five draft contemporaries he was in the running for Rookie of the Year with. Scottie Barnes, Evan Mobley, Jalen Green, Franz Wagner — these guys have certainly seen slumps, the nature of the Draft dictates likely being drafted to a struggling or rebuilding team, but they’ve also had their share of successes. Enough to keep them growing and developing. Cade has, in almost every way, had to take it upon himself to sift the lessons from the seasonal wreckage and keep his hope alive. That takes an incredible amount of discipline and fortitude.
Those traits were putting on a masterclass against the Lakers.
Cade fought through contact, went up for second chance points, ignited energy through ball movement by opting to pass instead of shoot, and the team followed his lead. Jaden Ivey was spectacular, a wellspring of energy unafraid of contact, Ron Holland was similarly fearless, picking the ball up at half court and rocketing it all the way to the rim. Jalen Duren made LeBron James’ night all the worse while clinging to Anthony Davis for rebounds. The Lakers were coming off of two days of rest and the Pistons had just returned from Brooklyn and besting the Nets but looked energized, fresh by comparison.
A big part of the balance Detroit has hopefully struck are through the roster fortifications and experience that Tobias Harris and Tim Hardaway Jr. bring, and new coach J.B. Bickerstaff playing to the teams existing strengths versus always trying to get them to play aspirational ball. Their defence has been tactical, competent, easy to run and energizing to their offence. Their shooters are free to shoot and after seasons in the trenches together there’s an intuitive communication to this team — they look for and out for each other.
For the Lakers, this loss will likely get pinned as a rogue one, a Monday night anomaly. For the Pistons, wins like this, against favoured and star-studded teams, are benchmarks. They’re also springboards. If they could do this to the Lakers on a Monday night, how does the shape of the rest of the season change? Where’s the ceiling? It suddenly looks like something to play for and prove, rather than simply survive.
