2018-19 Detroit Pistons

[Lowell]

Blake is done for this year and so are the Pistons, barring a 1000-1 total collapse of Milwaukee and 70% shooting by the Pistons. Winning one home game would be a triumph.

Nonetheless congrats to them and Dwane Casey for cobbling together a playoff slot from what was collapsing chaos prior to the All Star break.

Positives for next year: Bruce Brown's emergence, Luke Kennard becoming a consistent shooter and improved defender, and Andre Drummond continuing to improve all parts of his game--except for dumb fouls. If he could bring intensity every game, like Blake does, and add a steady ten foot shot to his offense he could ascend to super superstar status.

Honorable mention kudos to Blake Griffin for always giving it all and setting an every-game work ethic model and to my fav, Ish Smith, for doing the same and providing instant electricity with his acrobatic dribbling and shots.

[EGrant]

Excited enough to go to a game? If they're down 2-0 I fear they will be lucky to draw more than 10 or 12,000.

Yeah, I'll go to all the games. I don't see how they'd manage to draw less than a regular season game. It will be closer to full than 12K.

[Danny]

Eighty two days of games And the Pistons needed half to make the playoffs. WHOOP DE DOO!!!

Get well soon Blake! Pistons need you.

[DetroitSoldier]

I feel like that 15 game run in jan-feb really gave us a false sense of what this team could be. At best they are a poorly priced mismatch of talents that are good enough to compete against anyone on any given day. At worst they are a team that is mentally fragile and can lose to the very worst teams on any given day.

The result is a team with an identity crisis that will not string together any semblance of a playoff run. I would be beyond pleased if they take Milwaukee past 5 games. I really hope Tom Gores wakes up and sees the reality that this team is not built for success. You don't have to blow the whole thing up, but changes do have to be made.

[EGrant]

I would not be surprised if Blake tries to give it a go in Milwaukee, they lose twice and they shut him down.

This season was strange.

-Pistons looked unbeatable at times, horrific at others.
-Blake and Reggie came back with a vengeance this season, but they were almost never rested and it's showing.
-They traded their best shooter, and somehow still made the playoffs.
-They haven't had a decent SF since maybe Tayshaun Prince.
-Bruce Brown and Luke showed interesting flashes at times, especially Luke.
-Drummond quietly had one of the best individual seasons in Pistons history.

[401don]

I would not be surprised if Blake tries to give it a go in Milwaukee, they lose twice and they shut him down.

This season was strange.

-Pistons looked unbeatable at times, horrific at others.
-Blake and Reggie came back with a vengeance this season, but they were almost never rested and it's showing.
-They traded their best shooter, and somehow still made the playoffs.
-They haven't had a decent SF since maybe Tayshaun Prince.
-Bruce Brown and Luke showed interesting flashes at times, especially Luke.
-Drummond quietly had one of the best individual seasons in Pistons history.

Agree with DetroitSoldier and your comments. You look at the individual talent compared to the other teams around .500 and you have to ask if they really didn't still under perform. The inconsistency has been mind blowing.

[Smirnoff]

Boys are down over 25-pts at half.....joke/what a.

[401don]

Game 1 should really spur ticket sales in Detroit.

[swingline]

Game 1 should really spur ticket sales in Detroit.

This team is hard to understand. They appear to have talent but very little of the intangibles that winning teams always require to get in contention for championships. You would think individual pride alone would prevent an almost 40 point playoff smackdown. If game 2 is a blowout, LCA will only be half-full. On ESPN this morning, analyst Damon Jones commented that if Blake Griffin can't play at all, the series will be over in 3 games.

The Pistons' contract situation has them locked in to Griffin/Drummond/Jackson for at least one more year. The production from all three has probably peaked. There will probably be another rebuild before they contend again. If so, it will amount to an entire generation of losing. I blame Darko.

[sirrealone]

I blame Darko.

You can't blame today's mess on something that happened nearly 16 years ago. The majority of the blame for the way the team looks today is on Stan Van Gundy. He did a horrendous job assembling this team, and it's going to take time for them to get out from the numerous bad decisions that he made in his GM role.

[Cincinnati_Kid]

You can't blame today's mess on something that happened nearly 16 years ago. The majority of the blame for the way the team looks today is on Stan Van Gundy. He did a horrendous job assembling this team, and it's going to take time for them to get out from the numerous bad decisions that he made in his GM role.

+ 1. And now SVG is a ESPN analyst, while still getting paid the last year on his contract. Talk about a "Golden Parachute"

[EGrant]

Pride can't help the fact that a team who entirely depended on Blake got destroyed by the best team in the NBA when Blake sat.

The Bucks are a nightmare for even the best teams in the NBA; forget the Pistons, who can't shoot, defend guards and completely lack depth in the paint. I'll probably save a long post about this for when the sweep is complete, but the team has some work to do in the offseason, while at the same time not sacrificing assets that they'll need in a post-Blake world.

[swingline]

You can't blame today's mess on something that happened nearly 16 years ago. The majority of the blame for the way the team looks today is on Stan Van Gundy. He did a horrendous job assembling this team, and it's going to take time for them to get out from the numerous bad decisions that he made in his GM role.

Sorry, the Darko comment was intended as sarcasm. And yes, the SVG years were bad. Most of his draft picks did not pan out. Jury is still out on Luke Kennard but things do seem promising.

It seems that regardless of who is in the front office, the organization can't seem to be able to improve itself through the draft, which is a huge problem for a franchise that is not in an attractive free agent market. A glance at Wiki shows that the Pistons have drafted 19 players in this decade. Only 4 of them remain on the current roster, and 3 of those were taken in the last two drafts. Only a measly 4 draft picks in the current decade [[9 drafts/19 picks) ever became starters with the organization: Greg Monroe, Brandon Knight, K. Caldwell Pope, and Andre Drummond. [[Kennard will likely join that group next year.) Those are some barren results. And now they are in draft purgatory outside of the lottery where making smart draft choices is so important.

Who knows? Win a couple of games against Milwaukee and maybe the outlook changes.

P.S. re the Pistons' drafts in this decade. Perhaps the second and third best players selected by the club were never given a chance here but now produce outstanding numbers for other teams: Khris Middleton and Spencer Dinwiddie.

[Smirnoff]

Fact: #1 in the NBA for the largest percentage of unsold seats in 2018/19.....apparently selling "hope" also not working.

[401don]

Fact: #1 in the NBA for the largest percentage of unsold seats in 2018/19.....apparently selling "hope" also not working.

And that was after clearly inflating the numbers. Pretty much the exact same crowds they were drawing at the Palace the last couple of yrs. The move downtown had no effect one way or the other.

[Smirnoff]

Only lost game #2 by a close 21-pts .....yep, real close.

[Cincinnati_Kid]

Only lost game #2 by a close 21-pts .....yep, real close.

You mean there is a chance?

[EastsideAl]

Without Griffin the Pistons are clearly nowhere close to being a playoff team and not even in the same class as a team like the Bucks. The Bucks will probably let up a bit after 2 huge wins at home, and I am hoping the Pistons can at least be competitive, but I would be surprised if they could snatch a game.

Other than the consistently-rising stardom of Giannis, the Pistons and the Bucks weren't that far apart over the past few seasons. Both wallowing in near .500 mediocrity. But now the results of the poor personnel and drafting decisions by Stan VG over the past few years, and the chronic under-performance of several talented players [[*cough* Andre Drummond) are really beginning to show.

[Cincinnati_Kid]

Other than the consistently-rising stardom of Giannis, the Pistons and the Bucks weren't that far apart over the past few seasons.

Difference being, the Bucks put the right personnel around Giannis, 3 pt shooters who can actually make them, even their 5 man [[Lopez) shoots a ton of them. Detroit tries to play the same way, but the consistent shooting isn't there and the talent is flawed and mismatched, thanks to SVG. Giannis controls the paint, and when the traps and double teams come, he has teammates that can spread the floor. They are long and athletic, and that helps the defense create deflections and steals so they can run the break. Milwaukee has a chance to get to the finals. The only thing standing in their way, is lack of playoff experience going deeper in the playoffs.

[softailrider]

I don’t think they can win with this team. The Bucks just toyed with them , then stuck it to them in the 4th quarter of the 4th game. Kinda sad, I think I’m still a little depressed.

[swingline]

I don’t think they can win with this team. The Bucks just toyed with them , then stuck it to them in the 4th quarter of the 4th game. Kinda sad, I think I’m still a little depressed.

Yes, the Bucks series was depressing. Supposedly they have assembled a trio of elite players to build a winning team around. And don't teams with any kind of a championship foundation elevate their performance during the playoffs? What happened to the trio in the series? Only Griffin has an injury excuse. Was there a single player on the team who elevated his game in this series? With Griffin injured and the offense sputtering you would think that they would step up the defense. Not really. Milwaukee averaged about 125 pts/game. Other than Kennard, it seems that every player on the team has hit his ceiling. That ceiling got them swept with the games competitive for about 3 quarters out of 12.

The Pistons are already over the salary cap with only 10 players signed for next year. After they sign their draft picks and if they pay Ish Smith what he's likely to demand in free agency, they will be in luxury tax territory, i.e, a top 5 or 6 in the league for team payroll. They will probably have to let him sign elsewhere and sign a cheaper replacement. Improvement next year will have to come from the same cast of players as this year minus Smith and plus draft picks. How likely will that produce improvement?

[EGrant]

Ish may have played himself out of that big contract in the playoffs, as well as Wayne Ellington. I'd prefer a backup PG that can run an offense, instead of dribbling the air out of the ball. Moving on from Ellington, GRIII and trading Galloway's expiring deal should be the move, as all three of those guys were streaky and bad when it mattered. We haven't had a decent SF in a very long time.

Not sure what you can do with Reggie Jackson, but he struggles mightily on defense, and puts Blake and Andre in bad positions on a regular basis. There might be some teams interested in his expiring deal.

Wishing Zaza and Jose the best in retirement.

And unfortunately, we still have one more year of Jon Luer's crazy contract and one more year of paying Josh Smith. Man, Stan Van Gundy handicapped this franchise. They aren't going to dismantle this team, but they can make some smart moves to put them in a good position after next season. Casey is known for developing young guys; hopefully he can aid in the growth of Bruce Brown, Khyri Thomas, Kennard and Thon. And hopefully he takes a little better care of Blake, who probably played too much in hindsight.

I'm glad the team made the playoffs; it exposed a lot of guys against a great team for four games in a row. Just need to wait out some of these SVG contracts and retool.