The Pistons secured the third 60-win season in franchise history by defeating the lottery-bound Pacers on Sunday. They\u2019ll now await their first-round opponent in a series that begins on Sunday night.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a sign of the work that\u2019s been done by everybody who\u2019s a part of this,\u201d Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff said, per Hunter Patterson of The Athletic<\/a>. \u201cFront office, coaching staff, players, medical staff \u2014 everybody that\u2019s touched these guys and helped them with that consistency, with that effort. It\u2019s a group thing. Everybody who\u2019s been part of it should be celebrated for it. But again, our work\u2019s not done. That\u2019s the mentality that we have, but there is an appreciation and respect for all of the work that everybody\u2019s put in to help us get here.\u201d<\/p>\n Veteran forward Tobias Harris<\/a>, a free agent after the season, has been impressed by his teammates\u2019 even keel approach.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we\u2019ve done a great job of handling success this season,\u201d Harris said. \u201cJust being able to weather the storm, really lock in with one another, communicate and just pull for one another in whatever we\u2019re doing. We had guys, including myself, in and out of the lineup with injuries earlier in the year. Everybody just stepped up and has been super supportive of the next guy getting ready. The guy who is up takes on the challenge of being their best. We\u2019ve had great moments from different guys excelling, playing and showing who they are in this league. Some amazing stories have come about from our group. So we just embrace all of it.\u201d<\/p>\n Here\u2019s more on the Pistons:<\/p>\n They lost in the first round to the Knicks last season following the worst season in franchise history. They certainly won\u2019t just be happy to make the postseason this time around. They\u2019re coming in as the No. 1 seed in the East with their sights set on the Finals. \u201cPlayoffs, man. We\u2019re excited about it. Playoffs are on the mind,\u201d Cade Cunningham<\/a> said, per Patterson. \u201cIt\u2019s been a great regular season. Now it\u2019s time for the real fun.\u201d
\nThe multi-team trade that sent Jaden Ivey<\/a> to the Bulls produced additional dividends for the franchise, Christian Romo of the Detroit Free Press<\/a> notes. Not only did they acquire another key reserve in Kevin Huerter<\/a>, they also wound up with a higher first-round pick this season. Detroit also received a pick swap from the Timberwolves that was protected 1-19. They\u2019ll now have the No. 21 pick while Minnesota moves down to the No. 28 slot.
\nBig man Tolu Smith<\/a> received a promotion<\/a> last week, getting his two-way deal converted to a standard contract. Bickerstaff told Coty Davis of the Detroit News<\/a> that Smith earned his way onto the 15-man roster. \u201cHe\u2019s competed at a high level when given an opportunity, but he\u2019s continued to work and work and work and improve and get better and establish an NBA skillset in a way that he can impact the game,\u201d Bickerstaff said. \u201cThere have been stretches this year where we\u2019ve had him on the floor, whether it\u2019s here or Motor City, where he\u2019s just been dominant. His ability to rebound the basketball, protect the paint, and finish around the rim. He just adds a different dynamic. He can move his feet; he\u2019s physical. He fits right in with the identity of this team and the rest of our big guys.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Pistons secured the third 60-win season in franchise history by defeating the lottery-bound Pacers on Sunday. They\u2019ll…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":709790,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3773],"tags":[7,909,296,188,3860,1648,1018,4103,6,297,933,30139],"class_list":{"0":"post-709789","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-j-b-bickerstaff","14":"tag-jaden-ivey","15":"tag-kevin-huerter","16":"tag-nba","17":"tag-pistons","18":"tag-tobias-harris","19":"tag-tolu-smith"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116398778208541554","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709789","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=709789"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709789\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/709790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=709789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=709789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=709789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}