Panic in Detroit
Win or lose, the Pistons are troubled
The Pistons’ 2023-24 season will end in April, that’s the best news. The better news? The team has the best odds for the top pick in the 2024 NBA draft.
Vibes tumble downhill from there. The 2024 NBA draft stinks. The Pistons had the best odds in the 2023 NBA draft but dropped to the No. 5 pick, losing out a Franchise Superstar in exchange for a Pretty Great Guy. The third-worst record earned Detroit a top-five pick in 2022 (point guard Jaden Ivey) and the fifth-worst record in the NBA earned Detroit the No. 7 pick in 2020 (point guard Killian Hayes).
Detroit lost the second-most games in 2021 but earned the top overall pick, point guard Cade Cunningham, who missed out on Rookie of the Year consideration (by a lot) and, excluding Markelle Fultz’ injury-wracked path, is behind perhaps the least-distinguished career of any of the NBA draft’s last ten top-overall picks.
Were the Pistons supposed to pass on Cunningham in 2021 with Hayes on board? Not with Cade’s momentum, not with Hayes’ disappointing rookie season and the delicious (now dispiriting) prospect of pairing the two in a starting backcourt. Yet many would struggle to shoehorn Cade into the top-five of a 2021 draft redraft. It isn’t just that Cunningham isn’t in the top-five in Win Shares, it’s that he’s 55th out of 56 NBA players from his draft.