There's absolute misery in the Motor City. The Detroit Pistons are mired in the worst season in franchise history. The team is a woeful 4-37 on the season, having lost 36 of their last 38 games. The Pistons also tied a league record, losing 28 games in a row at one point in this nightmare of a campaign. With the NBA trade deadline approaching, the team must be busy and address their needs before the deadline passes. One player or even two may not be able to fix everything, but there's one pressing need the Pistons should address before the February 8 deadline.
DEFENSE, DEFENSE, DEFENSE
The Pistons need to use their resources before the trade deadline to strengthen their defense. With better defense, comes more success. With better defense, comes more confidence. The team simply needs to find a way to get more stops, and while that may not translate to wins this season, it is certainly something to build off of for for the future.
The Pistons are giving up an average of just under 123 points a game, which is actually not worst in the league. It is 27th out of the 30 league teams. The team is near the bottom of the league in just about every defensive category, but there's one category which truly has burned the team this year.
That category has turned out to be opponent points off of turnovers. The Pistons are really struggling with their transition defense, allowing opponents to score 20 points a game off of their turnovers. That's last in the league, per the NBA. That statistic has made a huge difference in games. The Pistons have lost 19 games this season by less than 10 points, which is essentially half of their loss total. The season could have looked so much differently for the Pistons if they had just been been able to find a way to get a few more stops each game.
While the Pistons have struggled to get stops off turnovers, they have also struggled to get stops. Period. The Pistons have given up more than 130 points in a game this year 12 times. They also lost games this year by giving up staggering numbers of points, including a 154-148 overtime loss to Utah. In what may have been the most embarrassing loss of the season, the Pistons let the Milwaukee Bucks score 146 points in a game, en route to a 32 point loss.
The Pistons have had the offense in several games to get victories. While the team isn't setting the world on fire, they have averaged about 112 points per game this season. That's good enough for 25th in the league, but they are only five points per game shy of being 15th in the league. Again, one bounce or two per game could have helped change this season exponentially.
The Pistons also have a bright star in young point guard Cade Cunningham. Cunningham is averaging almost 23 points a game, doing what he can to lead the offense. Head coach Monty Williams certainly knows how to coach, as he proved in Phoenix when he made it to the NBA Finals during the 2020-21 season with the Suns. There are pieces there for the franchise, but it hasn't translated into victories.
With the trade deadline quickly approaching, the Pistons must find at least one player or two who can create turnovers and rebound the basketball at a high rate, to help the team's defense. This season is a lost cause, certainly, but not the future for this historic franchise.
The Pistons go for their fifth win on the season on Saturday. It's a chance for revenge for the team, as they go up against a squad that handed them possibly their most embarrassing loss of the season. The team hosts the Milwaukee Bucks at 3:00 Eastern. The Bucks are 28-13 on the year.
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