{"id":692350,"date":"2026-04-01T18:12:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T18:12:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/692350\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T18:12:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T18:12:20","slug":"playoff-disrespect-for-the-pistons-plays-right-into-their-hands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/692350\/","title":{"rendered":"Playoff Disrespect for the Pistons Plays Right into Their Hands"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sports journalist Bill Simmons recently continued the league-wide playoff disrespect the Pistons have received. He and Zach Lowe conducted a so-called \u201cScary Playoff Team Draft\u201d on an episode of the Bill Simmons Podcast<\/a>, ranking Detroit 11th. It\u2019s just another iteration of the same opinion the naysayers have been parroting all season long, that the Pistons aren\u2019t a playoff-ready team.<\/p>\n

Playoff Disrespect for the Pistons Plays Right into Their Hands<\/p>\n

Calling a list a \u201cScary Playoff Draft\u201d or some version of that is a cute way of ranking the teams heading for the postseason. Really, it\u2019s just a breakdown of how dominant Simmons and Lowe expect a team to be in the playoffs. It\u2019s a fair topic to discuss.<\/p>\n

Having the Pistons 11th on that list while being first in the Eastern Conference all season is basically par for the course. Despite having a 55-21 record going into the last few games, there is still an endless parade of doubters out there. It\u2019s becoming one of the easiest opinions for any basketball pundit in the business to have.<\/p>\n

Keep in mind that the haters were out in full force before Cade Cunningham\u2019s<\/a> crazy collapsed lung injury. That whole situation has just dumped a few gallons of gasoline on an already ridiculous bonfire.<\/p>\n

The Pistons Have Been Marked for an Early Exit<\/p>\n

Basically, pundits like Simmons and Lowe are not expecting much from Detroit in the playoffs. They consider them to be an inexperienced and unproven team. The Pistons\u2019 first playoff appearance in the Cunningham era was last year. They ended up losing to the Knicks in six games, which wasn\u2019t terrible all things considered.<\/p>\n

Detroit definitely experienced a bit of disrespect last year as well. The difference was that they were not ready for the playoffs at all, including Cunningham. Detroit hasn\u2019t won a postseason series since 2008.<\/p>\n

Cunningham has only been in the league since 2021, and the postseason comes with a bit of a learning curve. Last year\u2019s first-round exit was an important step on the path to playoff success. Sometimes, the best possible thing for a team like the Pistons is to dip a toe into the postseason water to see what works and what doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

What the Pundits are Missing About Detroit<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not hard to understand why pundits like Simmons and Lowe were easily sucked into the cycle of disrespect for the Pistons early in the season. They won eight out of their first ten games, but no one was sure if the hype was real at that point.<\/p>\n

Now, everyone should realize the Pistons are legit. They met the 40\/20 rule<\/a> created by coaching legend Phil Jackson. He said you could tell which teams were legit contenders if they earned 40 wins before they hit 20 losses. The Pistons have certainly met that criteria. On top of that, they have beaten some of the toughest teams in the East, including the Knicks, Celtics, and Hawks.<\/p>\n

If that\u2019s not enough, Detroit has a winning record without their star player. The Pistons have gone 6-2 since Cunningham\u2019s injury<\/a>\u2014and both of those losses were close ones<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This Postseason Disrespect Gives the Pistons an Edge<\/p>\n

Considering all of that, it seems ridiculous that anyone would continue to underestimate Detroit\u2019s potential in the postseason. The reality is that it actually gives the Pistons an edge<\/a>. They want teams looking past them to the next round. It gives them an opening to take advantage of, which can be enough to win in the playoffs.<\/p>\n

More importantly, it\u2019s motivation. Being told that you\u2019re not a contender even when you\u2019re one of the top teams in the league has to light a fire under you. The Pistons are already a great team. Playing with a chip on their shoulders makes them dangerous.<\/p>\n

If pundits like Simmons and Lowe aren\u2019t believers already, nothing\u2019s going to change in the last few games of the season. But the Pistons don\u2019t need them to. While winning a title against Western Conference teams like the Thunder or the Spurs would be tough, that shouldn\u2019t mean Detroit doesn\u2019t have what it takes to make the NBA Finals. It\u2019s time the Pistons put this playoff disrespect to bed.<\/p>\n

\u00a9 David Reginek-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sports journalist Bill Simmons recently continued the league-wide playoff disrespect the Pistons have received. He and Zach Lowe…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":692351,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3773],"tags":[7,909,296,188,3860,6,297],"class_list":{"0":"post-692350","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-detroit-pistons","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-cade-cunningham","10":"tag-detroit","11":"tag-detroit-pistons","12":"tag-detroitpistons","13":"tag-nba","14":"tag-pistons"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116330807116788564","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/692350","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=692350"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/692350\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/692351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=692350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=692350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=692350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}