The Detroit Pistons sent a heartfelt letter to their fans on Monday, apologizing for their direction in the 2022-2023 NBA season. But at a certain point, this nosedive — being the league’s worst team — became the plan.
Entering the year, the Pistons expected to be rejuvenated, a legitimate power player in the Eastern Conference.
But then Detroit started the season with single-digit wins in the first two months. Then Cade Cunningham was lost to injury. And ever since, it’s been a slow, tanking march to the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft. Clearly, at this point, this pivot was part of their overall plan.
The Pistons saw the forest for the trees — a waiting Victor Wembanyama.
Just take a gander at how GM Troy Weaver characterizes a non-linear path in rebuilding:
“Rebuilding a team does not always follow a linear path, and we experienced that this year with the injury to Cade Cunningham that forced him to miss a majority of the season. While that injury impacted the continuity of our team, it also presented an opportunity for growth from others.
Overall, our players have overwhelmingly embraced the core principle of going to work and competing every night. We are in an excellent spot to upgrade our roster this offseason. We’ve positioned ourselves for another high draft choice in this year’s draft, we have a favorable salary cap position, and we’ll continue to talk with teams and evaluate trade opportunities as they present themselves.”
Weaver or Pistons brass would never admit it outright, but when he says rebuilding doesn’t follow a linear path, he’s obviously referring to how Detroit eventually stopped trying to win. Not that a lousy roster had much of a chance anyway, but going 1-21 in their last 22 games since early February is the Pistons waving the white flag, hoping they had the opportunity to draft a generational French superstar.
Detroit entered this season hoping to put itself back on the map. That didn’t happen because sometimes you must adapt and know when to fold your hand. If that means penning a (probably insincere) apology to your fanbase for falling short of expectations, so be it.
Sometimes you gotta keep your eye on the Wembanyama prize.