Why Can’t the Detroit Pistons Win?
Let’s face it, even with 2022 Coach of the Year Monty Williams leading the group, the Detroit Pistons have looked awful in the first month in a half of NBA action. Since starting out 2-1, this team has lost 13 games in a row. They’ve won one game each at home, and on the road, while against the Eastern Conference they’ve gone 2-8. Detroit has a boatload of exceptional young talent, sometimes they can’t get the job done during the final minutes of the game, or they flat-out look awful and get blown out by their opponent. This Pistons team needs some veterans who can still ball out on a nightly basis. Detroit’s oldest player is Bojan Bogdanovic who’s 34 years old, who last season averaged about 22 points a game. Monty Williams is exclusively playing most of his younger players this season, eleven out of the twelve players who hit the court this season are under 25 years old.
Detroit is still young, so young that their hopeful future stars are still trying to find their path on the grind of an 82-game season. Cade Cunningham is the Pistons' leading scorer this season dropping 22 points a game. Besides Cunningham, no one else on this Detroit roster averages more than 14 points a game. Their next top scorers are Jalen Duren, Alec Burks, and Jaden Ivey who are all averaging about 13 a night. They simply need more shots to fall. In their last three games combined, they lost by a total of 56 points, and during their four in-season tournament games they lost by a total of 45 points. That’s unacceptable even for the young squad they are. Cade has the chance to be a multi-time all-star during his career, but he needs a co-partner who can score efficiently if Detroit wants to succeed, whether that be one of the younger players on a roster, or someone else via trade. While there are pros and cons of having the number one pick, this team has too many young assets on the roster, they need a veteran to simply show the younger guys how to win.
To say the least, Duren has been a huge plus this season, especially on the glass, in his second career year he’s averaging 11 rebounds in 29 minutes. Jalen ranks seventh in the NBA in rebounds. If he continues to be more impactful at the rim as his career goes on, he will be a force to be reckoned with. For Cade, if he didn’t have to be the guy right now to take twenty shots a game, I’m sure his field goal percentage would be higher, yet he’ll start to knock shots down when he gets more comfortable being the Pistons number one guy. Opponents have Cunningham targeted, and that’s why he averages close to four and a half turnovers a game. He’s only 22 and will get better with time. As a unit, they have been great at rebounding the ball ranking seventh in rebounds, and sixth in offensive rebounds. This young core has been an excellent shot-blocking team ranking ninth within the NBA. Can the Detroit Pistons find some success this season, or will they tank to a future number-one overall pick?
