There have been a lot of awesome storylines through the first half of the NBA season.
How much of an improvement is that over last year?
Well, in 2024 the Pistons won 14 games…..total.
They had 1 win from October 30th to January 12th!
Safe to say things have changed quite a bit.
Those 12 wins are also the same amount as teams like NYK/IND/MEM/DAL/GS.
A lot of the teams I just mentioned are playoff teams/contenders/supposed contenders.
So what’s different?
For starters, JB Bickerstaff is doing what he usually does.
He’s not perfect, but he’s a damn good “rebuilding coach”.
When he showed up in MEM back in 2017-18, that first year they went 15-48.
Not great, but it’s a massive improvement.
When he went to CLE, the Cavs went from 22 to 44 to 51 to 48 wins.
Year 1 in DET, he’s off to a 21-19 start.
Coaching is just half the battle though.
The spacing around Cade was dogshit which only made things tougher for him and them as a whole offensively.
In today’s NBA you need spacing and to get to get that spacing you need shooting.
So what did they do?
Cade’s 3PT shooting has jumped from 35% to 38% on 6.5 3PA.
That percentage is good for 11th in the NBA.
The Pistons took just 31.7 3PA (27th) and shot 34.8% (26th).
As a result, they were not competitive, and they were not winning.
So just add it all up.
As of today, they sit in 8th, tied in the loss column with the 4 seeded Magic.
These are the teams that are in that range: ORL/IND/MIL/MIA/ATL
How have the Pistons done against those teams?
I certainly don’t think so.
Think of how insane of a sentence that is based on what we all watched last season.
As of now, they sit 6th in projected cap space for the summer.
Maybe that’s more shooting.
Maybe that’s big man depth.
The point is, as a destination things suddenly look a whole lot more appealing.
I know I say it all the time, but the Pistons season only reinforces my stance.
You should be watching the NBA.
