The win against the Clippers had LCA buzzing and fans talking about how this year feels different
On Monday night, the Detroit Pistons and the city of Detroit had a moment. A real moment. As the Pistons finished a workman-like victory over a scrappy Los Angeles Clippers outfit, the crowd rose to its feet and doled out some well-deserved appreciation for the home team after it capped off its seventh straight win.
Center Jalen Duren, sensing the moment, held up a seven to the crowd, further firing it up. What ensued afterward was a largely foreign site to the Little Caesars Arena crowd. As “Pistons Won Again” by GMAC Cash blared, fans lingered well after the game ended, reveling in the team’s continued ascent. When fans finally made their way to the exits, spontaneous cries of “DEEEEETROOOOIT BAAAASKETBALLL!” broke out throughout the concourse. The team’s postgame show went live near the exit, and a mob of jubilant and rowdy fans gathered behind the broadcast for their chance to get airtime as they celebrated.
It was a gloomy Monday in the dog days of the NBA season against an opponent missing its only superstar player, but the fan base’s enthusiasm was irrepressible. For the first time in ages, it felt like Detroit was finally reconnecting with a fanbase that had been dormant for too long. The franchise and its fans were waiting for the other to prove this team was the real deal and worth supporting.
It is. And a giant might be reawakening. Finally.
Sure, there’s been some fun moments over the years. There was the time Stan Van Gundy led an upstart roster to an improbable win streak a decade ago. There was the standing ovation that Blake Griffin deservingly received in 2019 after coming back from injury and giving everything he had in the playoffs against a far superior Milwaukee Bucks team. Those moments, while captivating, felt fleeting even at the time. It was a welcome distraction from a franchise that had proven one of the NBA’s most incompetent for 15 years.
Monday night was different. It was the home crowd finding its way back to its once proud basketball franchise. It was a fanbase finally acknowledging that this Pistons team is for real and that they might just be here to stay for the first time since the early parts of the century.
A year ago, this would have been unthinkable. Die-hard fans will remember attending games in the same arena when the crowds were lifeless, with attendance dictated by the other team’s best player, special guest, or halftime performer. Monday night proved to me that this is no longer the case. This team is worthy of attention and support; the fans know it, and they are starting to show up.
I get that there are still skeptics. The Pistons have not won a playoff game since 2008. But don’t get it twisted. There is a legitimate foundation for the first time since the “Goin’ to Work” days. Cade Cunningham continues to redefine his ceiling on a nightly basis and is a legitimate All-NBA candidate. If the rise continues, there will be discussions about MVP votes and whether he is a top-10 player in this league.
If your franchise is blessed with that kind of player, you have a real chance to contend. After this summer, the team will control all of its draft picks going forward. That can be used to add young talent to a growing collection of developing players or as a valuable way to aggregate assets in a swing for an impact player in their prime.
The team will have multiple avenues as it looks to improve. Young wings Ron Holland and Ausar Thompson continue to ooze potential and show flashes of being capable of more significant roles. Jalen Duren has put together two months of quality basketball and is quietly beginning to silence the questions about whether or not he is the long-term answer at center for this team. After years of the team trying to put a square peg into a round hole with Isaiah Stewart, he has settled into a role that best fits his skillset. In the process, he has become one of the best reserve bigs in the league. And by the way, remember Jaden Ivey? Yes, that Jaden Ivey was in the midst of a career year before suffering a significant on Jan. 2. He will be back next season and looking to build on his and the team’s success.
This team is young, growing, and fun to root for. Night after night, so many plays are downright fun, running the gamut of back-breaking corner threes and junkyard dog hustle plays.
On any given night, you can see Stewart do his best Ben Wallace or Dennis Rodman impression, rejecting at least one opposing dunk attempt per outing. You can see Thompson sticking to opposing guards and wings like glue and making plays that defy physics each time he touches the floor. Malik Beasley can erupt from deep at any given moment and has become the team’s emotional leader, a characteristic that has been so clearly absent for many years. Players all over the roster, young and established, dive for loose balls and crash the boards with purpose.
The Pistons demonstrated poor body language for many years and often appeared aloof during wins and losses. They didn’t care because they knew their team was talent-deficient and going nowhere.
Those days are gone. Culture is a buzzword often used too loosely, but the Pistons have it. Thanks to new coach JB Bickerstaff, budding superstar Cade Cunningham, and Trajan Langdon identifying the kind of veterans a young team needed on and off the floor.
There’s no denying the impact it’s having these days. Like so many great Piston iterations before them, they have cultivated an identity of playing defense first and putting the group above the individuals. Real team chemistry is hard to find in the NBA today, and if you don’t believe me, believe newly acquired Pistons rotation staple Dennis Shroeder .
Is this team still a ways away from calling itself a true contender? Sure. The same is true for every team not named OKC, Boston, Denver, or Cleveland. But the team is getting closer with each passing week. This group can get there with continued internal development and some savvy moves by the front office. Yes, this group. We are not dealing with Andre Drummond and Reggie Jackson being miscast as stars. Nor is it an aging Blake Griffin dragging an underwhelming and expensive roster to the eighth seed. This team is tracking to firmly get in the playoffs and possibly make some noise once it’s there. Could they beat New York or Indiana in a potential first-round series? Why not?
But more important than any first-round upset potential is that this year is not only about this year. This season is just a welcome distraction from years of mismanagement. It is the start of something real. This team has the potential to become a playoff mainstay. It could become a legitimate title contender with the right moves and continued growth.
Make no mistake—this is a roster, coaching staff, and front office worth supporting. The city, long starved for basketball success again, is taking notice. For those who have tuned out for many years, welcome back. It’s good to see you again. For those who stuck by this team through the lean times, the light at the end of the tunnel is here. On Monday night, we might have witnessed the moment that Detroit’s fans declared they were officially out of hibernation and this is a basketball city once again.