Turn the clock back 12 months and put yourself in the position of fans of Toronto, Charlotte or Washington. Followers of those teams have combined to celebrate exactly zero NBA championships.
So if you think the Pistons are trying to crack a fan base skeptical about their odds of going from 29 wins to the playoffs, imagine trying to sell such a vision to Raptors, Bobcats or Wizards fans as the 2013 postseason rolled along without their participation – again.
Three of the eight Eastern Conference playoff berths turned over year to year. Toronto not only made the playoffs, but won its division and held home-court advantage over Brooklyn in the first round, ultimately losing in seven games. Washington, playing from the No. 5 seed, nearly swept the Chicago Bulls and already has served notice to top seed Indiana in round two. Charlotte wasn’t likely to beat Miami no matter the circumstances, but playing with a hobbled Al Jefferson robbed the Bobcats of generating real first-round intrigue.
I’d argue that the Pistons are starting from a place at least the equal of Washington a year ago and ahead of both Toronto and Charlotte at that time. That doesn’t mean the Pistons can assume a similar leap forward. It’ll take the same combination of shrewd moves and good fortune that found those franchises. And, at least for the first half of the equation, that will fall to the new chief basketball executive currently being sought.
But before the Pistons can focus on stealing a playoff spot from the teams ahead of them, they must also concern themselves with elbowing their way to the front of the pack with other lottery teams equally intent on playing into May and beyond next year.
Here are three teams that surely will go into the summer believing they’ll be solidly in the 2015 playoff mix: