The Detroit Pistons are on a historic losing streak. I don’t need to rehash that for you all. However, we did feel it was the right time to dive into the streak and look at it from a holistic perspective. A lot has happened over the past two months. There’s been plenty of bad, a lot of blame, and even some good. Let’s dive into it.
1. The Pistons are making history with every loss it seems. What has been the most memorable part of this losing streak for you?
Ben Gulker: I’ve been a pretty vocal “Cade is The Guy” skeptic, but since the “We are bad” postgame, Cade has been very good, and his performance against Brooklyn was something special. If this is him turning the corner, we’ll remember it for a long time — whether he remains a Piston and leads the franchise to a brighter future… or understandably opts for a functioning franchise when the time comes.
Brady Fredericksen: Just how everything about this team feels like it’s incorrect. The lineups, the skillsets, the offensive and defensive game plans. Every night the Pistons go out there, and every night they get it wrong. Even when they do play well, they aren’t actually a threat to win a game. They’re just hanging around because those are the nights they play their asses off. I think once we hit 18-straight losses, this started to feel historic. Like not just a bad stretch, but a stretch that I’d remember forever. Now, we’re marching toward the worst kind of history… and absolutely nothing has changed since it all began. What a time to be a Pistons fan.
Justin Lambregetse: Probably the two 40 point games on high efficiency by Cade. Yes, they were still losses, but the fact he was able to impose his will on a game and try to win it by himself when a lot of doubters were saying that he couldn’t, at least bodes well long term. Hopefully that long term is in Detroit.
Wes Davenport: The ineptitude of it all. Repeated mistakes on the part of the coaching staff, incredible lack of self awareness on the part of some of the players, the sheer inability to make open shots. Just impossibly bad, which is memorable in it of itself.
Ryan Pravato: Almost everything. Specifically… the organization’s front office leadership staying quiet for so long. Cade (I think) finding himself. Cade is going to be a top 15-ish DUDE in this league, I just hope it can be in Detroit. (Not even going to get into Monty’s wacky lineups even now that Bojan and Duren are both back. It’s utterly perplexing)
2. Weird question, but what part of this streak has given you the most entertainment and/or humor in a sad clown kind of way?
Ben Gulker: I’m way beyond feeling bad about the losing and just cackle when the Wiseman/Burks bench consistently blows any chance the team has at staying in games. It’s too pathetic to take seriously anymore. The more Gores talks, the more out of touch and clueless he shows himself to be. As I see it, the only real hope for change is catastrophe, and we’re only 2 losses away. IMHO, might as well get there. Laugh or cry I guess, might as well laugh.
Brady Fredericksen: Cade. He definitely was not good at the start of this, but he’s exploded the last 10 games. His rise has come with Bojan Bogdanovic’s return, but it’s also exposed the job Troy Weaver did here even more. You’ve got your two best players back, one of them playing at an elite level, and you still can’t buy a win. It’s an indictment on Weaver’s inability to build a coherent team so much as it’s a reminder that all the block heads who said Cade wasn’t the best player in the 2021 draft are very much wrong. Watching him hit his stride and play like an All-Star amidst the chaos that is this Pistons team gives me some melancholy happiness.
Justin Lambregetse: How inept the “veterans” and “shooters” have been. You expect young players to crap their pants down the stretch of a close game, but to see these veterans enter the game and immediately start siphoning points is straight comedy. Like, it’s actually amazing how bad they have been.
Wes Davenport: Entertainment: Cade is fun to watch, he’s figuring things out and making tangible steps forward in development almost weekly now. Awesome to see. Humor: none. It just hurts man.
Ryan Pravato: Humor in a very sad way… The Pistons best wing besides Bojan has been Stanley Umude, and this clueless organization won’t even upgrade him to a standard NBA player contract so that he can be available for all the games and not have the two-way contract limitations. Right? Maybe have your top players up on the big club so you can roll with them and give yourself a better chance to win???
3. Do you think they break the 76ers’ record of 28-straight losses? They have the game tonight in Boston against the Celtics then at home on Saturday games against the Raptors — losing both does the job.
Ben Gulker: If Boston beats Detroit by less than 20 I will be shocked, so tying the streak feels inevitable. If Cade can go 48 minutes and score 50, MAYBE they can beat Toronto. But only if Alec Burks is waived first.
Brady Fredericksen: Ohhhh yeah they will. I’ve actually kind of had fun rooting for them to break the record for longest NBA losing streak. It makes the losses go down easier knowing that it’s history and it means something — even a bad something. The American pro sports record is 29, held by the NFL’s Chicago Cardinals, so a loss to Houston on NYD would check that box, too. I don’t think this team is the worst in NBA history, but I’m having a harder and harder time defending that stance with each passing game.
Justin Lambregetse: They absolutely will. The Pistons have actually played the Celtics pretty tough over the last few years, but there is no way they beat this Boston team on the road. They have also played the Raptors pretty tough over the years, but they aren’t beating this Raptors team, even if they have been a bit mediocre.
Wes Davenport: Yes. Sadly, yes I do. To history and beyond fellas.
Ryan Pravato: The Toronto game will go down to the wire. The Pistons probably won’t win it, but I do see a handful of wins in January due to a weak schedule plus the pressure of besting the losing streak being behind them. Who knows about any roster shakeups in the next few weeks but god have mercy please don’t let Weaver make any more trades.
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As always, let us know your answers below!
1. The Pistons are making history with every loss it seems. What has been the most memorable part of this losing streak for you?
2. Weird question, but what part of this streak has given you the most entertainment and.or humor in a sad clown kind of way?
3. Do you think they break the 76ers’ record of 28-straight losses? They have the game tonight in Boston against the Celtics then at home on Saturday games against the Raptors — losing both does the job.