Detroit Pistons
The 2021-22 Detroit Pistons can be defined by a late-season surge behind the future of the franchise, Cade Cunningham.
What did we learn?
The Pistons sputtered out of the gate as the #1 pick in the draft, Shady Cade, missed the beginning of the season.
Detroit’s offense was stuck in the thickest mud but slowly climbed out and found some flow once Cade got going. It took him a little while and there were some awful shooting performances at first, but he found his rhythm and his shot. By the time December rolled around — he looked good. Real good. Calm and poised under pressure, scoring with relative ease. He looked like he belonged. Like he was the #1 pick.
Over the last two months of the season after the All-Star Break, Cade averaged 21 points, 6.5 assists and 5.7 rebounds while the Pistons played close to .500 ball. In fact, the Pistons even had two 3-game winning streaks and a top-15 defense (compared to their season-long mark of 24th).
Sophomore Saddiq Bey was a big reason why the Pistons had a late-season renaissance, taking his scoring up several notches. There was the night that he lit up the Magic for 51 points in Orlando by way of draining 10 3-pointers. Bey also had that New Year’s Day game-winning 3 from the corner that he hit with both Keldon Johnson and Jakob Poeltl in his face.
Bey finished the season with 10 games of 28 or more points after having just two such games in his rookie season. He was also an Iron Man, one of just five players in the NBA this season to play in all 82 games. And he only missed two games as a rookie. So far, as durable as it gets.
The Angry Beef Stew vs. LeBron incident put the Pistons in the news. As did the Jerami Grant trade rumors despite Grant’s thumb injury, subsequent surgery and missing six weeks. But the Pistons didn’t trade Grant at the deadline. They kept him and he was another reason why they were winning ball games after the All-Star Break, averaging 20 points and shooting 42 percent from 3.
Per ESPN’s Bobby Marks, the Pistons had a plus-8.1 net rating when Cunningham, Bey and Grant shared the floor in the second half of the season.
Detroit might have lost 59 games, the most the Pistons have lost since 1993-94, but there is definitely something here. Little Caesars Arena felt it, too.
There was an energy and buzzing excitement in the building that hasn’t been present for years.
There is hope and the future is bright.
Good thing Cade has his shades on.
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Additional Notes
The Pistons finally snapped their insane 15-game losing streak to the Hornets. It was a Kelly Olynyk buzzer beater off an inbounds pass from Killian Hayes. Hayes still can’t really shoot it, but he can still dish the rock and hold his own on defense. He is one of those players where when he does make a great play, he looks incredible. But they are just so few and far between (for a #7 pick).
Marvin Bagley looked rejuvenated in Mo-Town. Sometimes a change of scenery (and getting the hell out of Sacramento) can work wonders.
Some advanced numbers suggested that Hamidou Diallo should get some more minutes, and he did shoot 55 percent on 2s (but only 24% from 3 and 65% from free).
Let the record show that we are not selling our cabin on Saben Lee Island.
Rookie Isaiah Livers — a 2021 second-round pick and Michigander through and through (from Kalamazoo and a 4-year college guy at the University of Michigan) — missed a huge chunk of this season recovering from a stress fracture in his right foot that required surgery last April. But beginning Feb. 27, Livers became a regular in the Pistons rotation and even played in crunch time down the stretch, shooting 42 percent from 3 on 3.4 attempts per game in 19 games played.
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Did our preseason Over/Under prediction hit?
There should be nights where this team is fun to watch, but there will likely be plenty more where they are getting wasted. Under 25.5 wins.
Pistons 2021-22 Record: (23-59)
Yes! Our preseason Pistons Over/Under prediction hit, but it was pretty close.
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What’s Next?
The #5 pick in the 2022 draft. Detroit had some tough luck in the lottery the year after they had all the luck. The thought of trading the #5 pick to Phoenix for Deandre Ayton as suggested on a recent Sunday’s with Russillo podcast is very intriguing.
Detroit has as team option for each of Hamidou Diallo, Frank Jackson, Luka Garza and four-game wonder Carsen Edwards.
Do better than last summer’s free agency class of Kelly Olynyk and Trey Lyles.
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