We NEED To Talk About The Detroit Pistons

We NEED To Talk About The Detroit Pistons

It took nearly 20 years, but the Detroit Pistons are finally back. When I first started watching the NBA in the mid200s, the Pistons were one of the most dominant teams led by their suffocating defense. And after all this time, they’re finally good again. Once again, led by an elite defense. Yeah, the NBA is just better when the Pistons are good. They’ve been one of, if not the worst team in the league for almost two decades. hit rock bottom two years ago when they lost 28 straight games and they have bounced back big time. [Music] [Music] Before we start talking about the Detroit Pistons, please give the video a like, subscribe to the channel, and hit the notification bell so you never miss on any new videos. So, going into this season, neither of us expected a ton from the Pistons. I thought if they could just like repeat what they did last year, kind of plateau, that would be a success in my mind. And you just wanted them to win a home playoff game. They somehow didn’t do it last year. Yeah. Got to remind everyone the last home playoff game this team won was game four of the 2008 Eastern Conference Finals. That’s wild. Well, this season they’re going to do it. And plus over the off season they lost two key catch and shoot guys. Malik Beasley who got caught up in that gambling scandal. He was coming off a season where he finished second six man of the year voting. Shot 41% from three, but obviously he still hasn’t signed to a team. And Tim Hardaway Jr. they also lost. He started 77 games for them. And he shot nearly 37% from three. So like that’s not two huge names you’re losing, but both of them were huge for the Pistons offense because for once in Kad’s career, he finally had space to operate, to make plays, and their offense improved a ton. And I’ve been a huge Cade guy over the years. It’s been tough because, you know, he looked like a losing player early on his career. At least that was the perception because he was putting up decent numbers for them, but the teams were never winning any games. Well, there was that shot of him during the 28 game losing streak where he just sitting on the bench and has like, you know, the thousandy stare like he’s a soldier in Vietnam. I remember it was posted to the Pistons subreddit and the caption was, “Please get this man some help.” But credit to the Pistons front office. They did a good job of replacing those catch and shoot guys. They trade for Duncan Robinson. So far he’s shooting like 2020 bubble Duncan Robinson to start this season and then they signed Caris Levert as well some more scoring to the bench. The Pistons didn’t really start off redhot to start the season. They lost their opener on the road in Chicago 115 111. Of course the Bulls had that incredible start to the season and the Bulls were up 20 at one point in this game but the Pistons clawed back nearly tied the game at the end but the Bulls held on to win the game. The Pistons started the season 0 and one. Yeah. followed that up with a big win on the road in Houston though and even though Jaylen Durn got ejected in the second quarter hung on to win by four then came back home beat the Celtics by six but the following night got worked by the Cavs losing 11695 at home and it was around this point that we kind of you were like okay yeah this is the Pistons team we expected so far you know still young still some things to learn maybe a little inconsistent against the good teams probably going to be you know a little bit above 500 maybe like in the 45 to 48 win range something like that haven’t lost a game since they got drugged by the Cavs So currently on a 12game winning streak. Started that off by beating the Magic by 19. Kate had 30 points, 10 assists, six boards, three steals, and three blocks. Then took on the Mavericks in Mexico City, won comfortably behind a 3310 board game by Jaylen Duran. Kate also chipped in 21 and tied a career-high with 18 assists. Follow that up by going to Memphis and winning by eight. Kade had 33, eight and five, while Isaiah Stewart added 26 and 14. Then beat the Jazz by nine. Another huge game from Kade, 31 points, 10 assists. Jaylen Duran 22 points and 22 boards. Doesn’t happen very often where a big gets as many boards as he does points, right? Yeah. Duran has been just an absolute beast to start this season. Yeah. Funny quick story. Like before we were recording, we were kind of going over some notes and I was reading one of the notes and he was like, “Jaylen Durn has been one of the best role players in the league.” And I was like, I think he’s a little better than a role player at this point. You’re like, no, no, no, like a pick and roll player. You spelled it R O L E. I’m like, that’s like a role player. So, we had to correct that. Right. Right. Right. I was typing fast, but yeah, clearly this dude is no longer role player. He’s going to be an all-star this season. Follow that up on the road in Brooklyn. Their first NBA Cup game. Not surprisingly, they won this easily. Cade again a monster. 34 point 10 assist game. His third 30-10 game of the season. And Duran once again was huge, dropping 30 and 10 as well. To finish a quick road trip, they beat the 76ers in Philly. Cade had a huge turnaround mid-range shot to give the Pistons a three-point lead. And they played great defense on Philly in the last possession. Maxi missed a potential game-tying three. And after that, we got a bizarre CJ McCollum vers Cade Cunningham duel. Kade had 46 points. He did do it on 45 shots. I think he missed 31 shots, which is an NBA record, but he also had 12 rebounds and 11 assists. You know, that’s a that’s a rust stat line if I’ve ever seen it. 46 points, 12 boards, 11 assists, triple double on 45 shots. CJ almost matched him with 42 points, but the Pistons somehow won this game after Dannis Jenkins hits a three at the end of regulation to force overtime, and CJ missed a potential game-tying floater in overtime. Kade would then miss the following three games with a hip contusion. Jaylen Dur also missed two games with an ankle injury. Tobias Harris was out. So, you know, Piston team, you’re down three starters. You’re not too far away from that season where you were the worst team in the league. You think like this team is cooked without Cade, Duran, Tobias Harris. No, they somehow still keep winning because Paul Reed steps up into the starting lineup. He gives you 28 points, 13 boards, six assists, and four steals in a win versus the Bulls. Just casually comes in and drops like a shack stat line. Like what? Two nights later in their second NBA Cup game, still without Duran or Cade, they beat the 76ers by nine. They then get Jaylen Duran back. Beat the Pacers by 15. Duran picks up right where he left off. 31 points, 15 boards. Finally got Cade back against the Hawks. One in Atlanta 120 112. And then they just played the Bucks winning tonight 129 116. So before we get into like the rest of the season for Detroit, we just got to acknowledge this is the best story in the NBA right now. And it really isn’t close. Like we’re working on a longer video talking about like, you know, the complete timeline of this rebuild cuz really it lasted 15 years. It really started, you know, after the 2009 playoffs, right? But again, this the fact that this team was in the middle of a 28game losing streak 2 years ago and now they’re on a 12-game winning streak with the best record in the Eastern Conference is remarkable. It’s one of the best turnarounds in recent NBA history. I mean, in my mind, it’s the best turnaround I’ve personally seen. I know like the Celtics 07 to08, it’s technically a better turnaround. That’s what I was going to come back with. Like, yeah, you go from 24 wins in ‘ 07 and then you proceed to win 66 games in ’08 and win the title. Like, that is better on paper, but to me, like, that’s kind of a different story because you added Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett. You added like a top five player and then a top 15 player. Two Hall of Famers. Yeah. It’d be like saying like the 2015 Cavs are an alltime. Well, they added LeBron James, but Right. I don’t really count that in the same vein. Like there’s other kind of similar stories to that like the Spurs in 1998. I mean they only had an insane turnaround because they drafted Tim Duncan and David Robinson the previous year basically missed the entire season. Like this is the first time I’ve really seen a turnaround like this where it’s basically the same core group of players. They just got older, more experienced and really got better. I mean sure they added guys like Malik Beasley and now it’s like Duncan Robinson and drafting guys like Ron Holland. that happened. But really, this is the same core that two years ago lost 28 games in a row and now they’re out here winning 12 games in a row and at the top of their conference. This is unprecedented, unheard of. It’s something I’ve never seen. But are the Pistons legit like as contenders? I mean, it’s still I mean, we’re getting to the point where we can’t keep saying this. Like, we’ve said it so many times in so many recent videos, but it is still early in the season. Like, it is. Yeah. Every team’s still got at least 60 games to go. And you know, looking at the Pistons schedule, again, you don’t want to take anything away from them because they’ve been fantastic and you can only beat who you play. But I mean, they’ve had the 10th easiest schedule so far this season. And just looking at the win streak, like a lot of mid to bad Eastern Conference teams, you know, the Wizards, the Nets, the Pacers, the 76ers, the Bulls. Like, so yeah, I mean, the East is not as tough as the West. And going forward, they only have the sixth easiest schedule remaining. So, it’s not like it’s going to get much tougher. But, you know, we do want to see them play specifically some of the elite teams in like the Western Conference. So far, I would say they’ve only played two like top 10 teams in the NBA, the Cavs and the Rockets. And they split those two games. So, I’d love to see a match up against OKC, the Nuggets, the Lakers, the Spurs, the Blazers, cuz we’re definitely an elite team out there. Exactly. Got to, you know, talk it into existence. But yeah, so far you can only play who’s on your schedule, and they’ve dominated the teams on their schedule. And I think a big reason to be optimistic as a Pistons fan that this team can be a contender this season that can win the East is they just have an elite defense. And like the Pistons teams that were great in the past, it was always the elite defense. Like in the ‘9s it was Dennis Rodman and Joe Dumar as their elite defensive players in the 2000s. Taan Prince and Ben Wallace. And now it’s Assar Thompson and Isaiah Stewart. Basically, you know, the same breath as those guys, of course. Exactly. Right. Maybe eventually. Yeah, maybe one day. Honestly, Detroit just feels like one of those like teams in sports that always has to play a certain way. Like they have to have a good defense. It’s like Stanford football. They have to have a good defense and like good offensive lineman and a good running game. If they try to play any other way, it’s just like what the hell am I looking at? Like that this is not who this team is supposed to be, right? And yeah, their defense has been great this year. Second best defensive rating in the league, only behind Oklahoma City. Not maybe a coincidence that those two teams have the best records in the NBA. Like you mentioned, Isaiah Stewart, best defensive player that nobody talks about. I mean, he has been an amazing rim protector so far this year. Jaylen Durn’s made some big leaps on the defensive end. Assar Thompson is an elite perimeter defender. Even Cade, who’s been criticized for lacking on the defensive end, he’s been playing much better this season. And as Nico Harrison has taught all of us, defense wins championships. Is that right? That phrase has its own Wikipedia page, by the way, where it lists Nico as like a proponent of it and why he traded Luca away. Well, funnily enough, the third best defensive team behind those two, Dallas Mavericks, right? Well, the Dallas Mavericks don’t have an offensive engine like Kade Cunningham. Yeah. Now, on to the Pistons offense. Like, it’s good. It’s not elite. At the time of this recording, they’re 12th in offensive rating. A lot of that production is behind Cade, one of the best offensive engines in basketball right now. He’s averaging 27.4 points tonight, 9.9 assist. We’re going to round up here and give Cade the 10 assists per game. We got to give him the double double. Yeah, exactly. The only players averaging 27 and 10 right now or above that is him and Joic. Like again, it just shows the offensive engine he is. And Jaylen Duran, dude, has improved big time on the offensive end. He’s one of the best pick and roll bigs rolling to the hoop. In particular, he is an insane lob threat and Kade is so good at throwing those lobs. But also, you got to give him credit like he’s created more for himself. He’s got good footwork. He’s improved his mid-range game. And surprisingly enough, like the dude can handle the ball a little bit and create for himself. So, huge credit to him. He’s improved so much this season. And he’s a name you got to keep in mind for most improved. Yeah. Duncan Robinson also has filled Malik Beasley’s place as the knockdown shooter. And also, huge shout out to Dannis Jenkins. I mean, we didn’t have a clue who this guy was like two weeks ago, but he’s been huge for them off the bench. Went undrafted in the 2024 draft, but signed a two-way contract with the Pistons. Only played in seven games for them last year and was only averaging one point a night. And here he comes averaging like 11.4 points off the bench per game this season. Like even started a few games for Detroit while Cade was out. So, you know, big shout out to him. Hopefully, this is the start of, you know, a long NBA career for him. On top of that, Jaden Ivy’s finally back. He played his first game in nearly a year on Saturday. Scored 10 points. So, you know, it’s probably going to take some time for him to, you know, ramp up after being off for so long. But if he can get back to like 60% of the production he was last year, that’d be a huge weapon for them off the bench. Also, JB Baker Staff, I mean, what a job he’s done. You know, he doesn’t, I think, get enough credit for helping build up the Cavs into what they’ve become nowadays because, you know, Kenny Atinson took them to the next level. And, you know, maybe Bicker Staff had worn out his welcome in Cleveland. That happens sometimes. you know, both sides needed a change and it worked out better for both of them. But I think there was a bit of a stigma on JB Bicker staff after it ended in Cleveland like, oh, is he really, you know, especially when Atinson took him to the next level, it was like, oh, is he really like, you know, all that? He’s proven he is a damn good coach. Yeah, absolutely incredible turnaround he has done there. So, overall to wrap this up, like what do you expect for the Pistons the rest of the season? I mean, I expect a home playoff win at some point, just minimum. I expect that at some point. Um, look, holding on to the one seed might be a big ass. The problem with the Eastern Conference is there’s not another like dominant team who you could see like taking it from them. Like I could see like, you know, Cleveland or New York or hell [ __ ] Toronto’s on fire right now. Maybe they could do it. You know, I could see another team like, you know, nipping at their heels and like, you know, maybe closing the gap on them a bit, but there’s no like uber dominant team that I think is going to chase them down if they keep playing like this. I think, you know, with how wide open the East is, they can very easily get to the second round. Probably can get to the conference finals. And man, if we got Eastern Conference Finals basketball in Detroit against like maybe the New York Knicks or the Cleveland Cavaliers, I that sounds fun to me. That sounds like a lot of fun. Yeah, I’m kind of on the same page. Like if they were in the West, I would probably be downplaying them because there’s so many like elite contenders in the West, experienced contenders as well that you could say like, oh, if they ran into a Lakers in the playoffs or the Nuggets or of course OKC, the experience of those teams would probably get the better Detroit. But like you said, the East really isn’t that good. And so far, like the teams we expected to dominate the East, Cleveland and New York, like they’ve been fine more so like Cleveland I think’s been fine. New York’s been a disappointment to me, but they haven’t really been that great. So, we were talking about this before the recording. It’s like, look at the Eastern Conference standings as of today, which is Saturday the 22nd. It’s Detroit, Toronto, Cleveland, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Orlando, Chicago, Boston. Just like we all drew it up, right? Exactly. Just like we all expected. So, I mean, honestly, with the defense they have, with the player Kade has become, with Jaylen Duran, you know, making his improvements and like even dealing with injuries, playing this well, bringing in Jaden Ivy now, I think this team can make the conference finals at the very least. I’m expecting the second round at this point. I think they should make the second round, especially, they’re going to have home court. If you make the conference finals that much better and you never know, this team could even win the East. I think winning the title, I’m going to hold back on that. They’re not beating OKC or Denver in a seven game series. I’m sorry Detroit fans, but this team can win the East. They can make the conference finals. And like we’ve said multiple times, this is by far the best story in the NBA so far this season. So, what do you guys think? Are the Detroit Pistons cursed now that we talked about them? Are they losing tonight? Let us know in the comments below. If you enjoyed the video, please consider giving a like. And hey, while you’re here, check out some of our other content as well. And don’t forget to subscribe. Synthetic sports.

The Detroit Pistons are currently the best story in the NBA. After beating the Bucks in Milwaukee on Saturday night the Pistons improved to 14-2 and are currently on a 12 game win streak. Only two years after going on an NBA record 28 game losing streak the Pistons somehow find themselves on the longest winning streak in the NBA and at the top of the Eastern Conference.

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