This might be worst Detroit Pistons team ever. 2024 summer demands change.
Washington, D.C. — The Detroit Pistons front office didn’t mince words at the beginning of this season — the 2023-24 campaign was intended to be a big step forward.
Six month later, it has been anything but.
With two weeks remaining in the season, the Pistons are battling just to match last season’s NBA-worst 17-65 record.
Friday’s 96-87 road victory over the Washington Wizards — a battle between the NBA’s two worst teams — brought them to 13 wins, four shy of the total that prompted general manager Troy Weaver to write a letter to the fanbase at the end of last season.
The 1979-80 Pistons finished with a paltry 16 wins. With eight games left, this iteration of the team may finish with fewer. A team that entered the year expecting to compete for 82 games is now battling to avoid being the worst in franchise history.
A season with this level of failure deserves a full autopsy, from the front office to the coaching staff to the players. The optimism that characterized training camp and preseason has been replaced with uncertainty.
It’s the fourth year of Weaver's rebuild.
Where do they go from here?
The Pistons are trying to avoid dwelling on the worst-case scenario. The word from coach Monty Williams and the players has been to “run through the tape” down the stretch. But even if Detroit surprisingly manages to avoid more bad history, it won’t wash out the sour taste of a season that has set up perhaps the most important summer for owner Tom Gores since he purchased the team in 2011.
“Haven’t thought about it,” Williams said of the team’s potential to finish as the franchise's worst. “The records and things of that nature, nobody wants to be a part of a negative record. But I’m more inclined to grow the team and go through the process properly right now. We’d love to win every game, that’s for sure. But I’m also aware we’ve had 30, I found out last night we’ve had 30 players play in a game. Didn’t even know that. I have to factor all that stuff in.”
Still here, still very bad
The questions, of course, start with Weaver. The Pistons believed they had checked multiple important boxes by the end of last season — shooting, defense, experience.
Yet there were several miscalculations made along the way, prompting the team to turn over more than half of the roster at the Feb. 8 trade deadline.
The deadline moves were a step in the right direction. Simone Fontecchio, who hasn’t played since March 17 with a toe injury, immediately emerged as one of the team's best shooters and defenders. He's a restricted free agent this summer. Quentin Grimes, the other heralded deadline acquisition, has hardly played due to a knee injury. The rest of the newcomers are all on expiring contracts.
The pressure will be on for Weaver, or whoever is placed in charge, to spend the oodles of cap space that has been preserved through several seasons. Last year’s additions — Monte Morris and Joe Harris — didn’t move the needle.
Bigger swings will be necessary to push the team above water. They’re projected to lead the league in available money. They’ll likely look to the trade market, rather than free agency, in search of the roster-changing talent they desperately need.
READ MORE: All signs point to Tobias Harris as Pistons big offseason prize in free agency
What about Monty?
The questions extend to Williams as well, who is near the end of the first season of his six-year, $78.5 million contract that was the biggest in NBA history when signed last spring. The Pistons should be thankful his albatross of a contract doesn’t count against the cap.
The marriage between Williams and the Pistons, thus far, hasn’t clicked as they hoped. Expectations were high following his arrival. His rotations — particularly his surprisingly spare use of Jaden Ivey early in the season, and unwillingness to consistently stagger him and Cade Cunningham — have been ongoing question marks.
Gores defended Williams during his media address in December, noting the new coach hasn’t been around long enough to be responsible for the mess the Pistons are in. Gores churned through coaches early in his tenure, but has prioritized stability in recent years. Dwane Casey led the team for five years, and Stan Van Gundy lasted four years prior to Casey.
Williams, who won Coach of the Year in 2022 with Phoenix, was expected to be another long-term solution for the franchise. His contract could last up to eight years. But it’s difficult to make sense of a season like this while excusing the coach. Williams has embraced the challenge of turning the franchise around, but his first season hasn’t provided needed assurances that he’s the right fit for the roster.
“If there’s anybody who can handle that stuff, God built me to handle it and I’m more inclined to focus on the process, focus on our guys and building a foundation, that when we do get there we do it the right way,” Williams said.
Prioritizing Cade
If there’s one thing the team can be proud of this season, it’s the development of Cunningham, who led the team to victory with 33 points, eight rebounds and seven assists on Friday. He has continued to step up as a leader, and his on-court play has reflected why he was so hyped entering the 2021 NBA draft.
The Pistons need to identify what Cunningham needs around him for his game to be maximized. That includes his fit with the other young players, such as Ivey, Jalen Duren and Ausar Thompson. Cunningham will become extension-eligible this offseason. As good as he has been offensively, it hasn’t led to wins.
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The club will continue trying to close the season on a more positive note. But the story of the season has already been written: The Pistons fell well short of expectations.
They can’t fall short again this summer.
“Us playing the right way, playing hard and competing every night, I think it’s huge,” Cunningham said. “Can’t quit on a season just because of where we’re at with the record and everything. Us finishing strong, running through the tape definitely carries us into a strong summer, which will carry us into a strong season.”
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Next up: Grizzlies
Matchup: Pistons (13-61) vs. Memphis (24-50).
Tipoff: 7 p.m. Monday; Little Caesars Arena.
TV/radio: TV20 Detroit WMYD; 950 AM or 98.7 FM.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: This might be worst Detroit Pistons team ever. Summer demands change.
