As a Pistons fan, I’ve been watching their games for as long as I can remember. I have watched the team from Reggie Jackson and Andre Drummond, to Blake Griffin, to our first number one pick in 50 years, Cade Cunningham, to now. Though I love this team, I will admit that the Detroit Pistons are notorious for being bad. They have not won a championship since 2004, have not won a playoff series since 2008 and their record has not been above 50% since the 2015-16 season. On top of this, they held the worst record in the NBA for over 5 years. But, there is hope for the future; with a 9-13 record as of now, they look much better than they have in past years. New coaches, new players and many other things have contributed to this drastic improvement. 

First off, coaching has been shaky for the past few years. Dwayne Casey was head coach from 2019- 2023, then Monty Williams in 2024 and now J.B. Bickerstaff, this season. Bickerstaff’s phenomenal coaching experience, taking the 22-50 Cleveland Cavaliers in 2020 and transforming them into a 44-38 8th-seed team in just one year. Throughout his three years at Cleveland, the Cavaliers made it to the second round of the playoffs once, and the first round once. That may not seem too great to a casual viewer, but it’s excellent for a team that has yet to make the playoffs in six years. Bickerstaff has instantly turned his new team around, turning the Pistons into one of the better teams in the Eastern Conference, not the worst. 

Though Bickerstaff is a great coach, he is not the only reason so much improvement has occurred. That is up to the players that make up the roster. Cade Cunningham, Jalen Duren and Jaden Ivey are the young anchors of the team. With Ivey averaging 18.5 points a game and Duren developing into the second coming of Andre Drummond, averaging 9 points and 10 rebounds a game, putting him at 11th in the league for rebounds this season. But, the brightest out of the bunch is by far Cade Cunningham. Looking like a true All-Star, he’s averaging 23 points, 7 rebounds and 9 assists per game, and shooting 37% from three; he has also recorded 4 triple-doubles— which is third in the NBA. Cunningham is reaching his prime, but no team can be great without an older presence to show them the way. This offseason, the Pistons received Malik Beasly, Tobias Harris and Tim Hardaway Jr. in free agency; all three of these players can score 20 a night, but have stepped into a smaller role as of this season. Malik Beasly and Tim Hardaway Jr. are the resident 3-point specialists, shooting above 38% from three. Harris is a serious threat driving into the paint, and has already scored 25 or more points a game multiple times this season. Other contributors include Isaiah Stewart, Simone Fontecchio and Ausar Thompson, who has been out with blood clot issues since March, but has recently been cleared for practice and will return soon. 

Decreasing turnovers and improved three-point shooting have been bright spots so far, but there is still a lot that the team needs to work on overall. For one, players must stop rushing down the court, playing hero ball and trying to score in one-on-one situations. The only thing this will cause is turnovers… a lot of them. In their recent game against the Charlotte Hornets, the ball was turned over 19 times and the opponent scored 19 points off of those turnovers. Also, the team isn’t great in late games. It is evident that younger players aren’t quite sure what to do and often the opposing team takes advantage by making a large run at the end, bringing them right back into the game. 

At the end of the day, the team is young, the season is young and the coach is new, so being perfect immediately is not expected. What matters is that the Pistons are showing improvement every game, and they are doing just that. At a certain point, everything will begin to click and the new era of the Detroit Pistons will begin!