Monty Williams’ message to his team since the All-Star break has been to “run through the tape.” The horrific string of early-season injuries set off a cascading series of misfortunes that converged to result in a 28-game losing streak. Williams lauded the mindset his players exhibited in the midst of their travails, but it surely will come as a relief to put the 2023-24 season behind them and wipe the slate clean.
It ended with a Sunday loss at San Antonio, where the Spurs finished with only eight more wins, 22, but the perception of a franchise on the rise thanks mostly to what happened last May when they capitalized on 14 percent odds to win the draft lottery and the right to add the most ballyhooed prospect since LeBron James 20 years earlier, Victor Wembanyama.
Williams endured rebuilding efforts in both New Orleans and Phoenix, so he’s emphasized process over results since day one with the Pistons. But he knows fans want to see growing pains yield wins.
“I think it’s pretty clear we have a fan base that’s hungry. From my vantage point, they’ve been committed. We want to match that with a commitment to being a lot better than we were this year,” he said. “I know we’ve grown. We’ve had a number of close games that didn’t go our way, but we’ve also had obvious areas where we’ve got to get better. We are committed to that and we can’t express that enough.”
Williams has immersed himself in the community and frequently encounters fans – some of whom offer encouragement, others who make clear their frustration or disappointment.
“I have been around this long enough to know you appreciate the fans that come out, the fans I see around town that will walk up to me and say how much they’re with us. They know it’s been a tough year for us. At the same time, I have an appreciation for the ones disappointed, as well. They have a right to be human and a right to have passion for their team. This organization has a championship pedigree and background. I respect all of that.”
The 14-68 record, worst in franchise history, overwhelms any positives that might have emerged over the course of the season, but they exist. Cade Cunningham, who sat out the season’s final seven games with a left knee injury that cost him nine games in January, emerged as the franchise centerpiece the Pistons envisioned when they drafted him No. 1 in 2021. Jalen Duren blossomed into a double-double machine who spread his wings as an offensive facilitator. Ausar Thompson’s dynamic athleticism is a game-changer at both ends of the floor with his defensive versatility and offensive rebounding and slashing prowess.
Isaiah Stewart, Jaden Ivey, Duren, Cunningham and Thompson are all 22 or younger. Marcus Sasser projects as a bench sparkplug and he along with the two key trade-deadline acquisitions, Simone Fontecchio and Quentin Grimes, give the Pistons the foundation to put together a strong second unit going forward. They’ll add another high-ceiling young player in June’s draft, but free agency will provide the gaping opportunity for transformative roster change. The Pistons are expected to have more than $60 million in cap space come July and Williams knows that whatever solutions the organization lands on after internal review, Pistons owner Tom Gores will lend full support at every level.
“We’re going to continue to explore every area we can be better, whether it’s schematics, upstairs in analytics, all the choices we make going forward. We know we’re going to do the best job we can to make everybody proud. I’ve always said, Mr. Gores has given this place every resource possible to be a successful organization. I’ve been in a lot of places and I know what it’s like to not have the resources. This is a place that has everything and we have to match that with the things that we do.”
PISTONS TRIVIA
Which Pistons player recorded the highest single-game point total in the franchise’s playoff history?
A: Dave Bing
B: Isiah Thomas
C: Joe Dumars
D: Rip Hamilton
THE LOTTERY PICTURE
With Sunday’s loss, the Pistons finished one game back of Washington for the NBA’s worst record at 14-68, assuring them no worse than the No. 5 pick in the June 26-27 draft at Barclays Center in New York. The Pistons went into the 2023 draft in the same situation and wound up picking fifth when San Antonio, Charlotte, Portland and Houston won the top four picks. The Pistons will again have a 14 percent shot at landing the No. 1 overall pick and 13.4, 12.7 and 12.0 percent chances of landing at picks 2-3-4. They’ll have a 47.9 percent chance at picking fifth. The stakes aren’t nearly as high this season, seemingly, as they were last year when Wembanyama was the clear prize but Scoot Henderson and Brandon Miller were also considered worthy top-three picks. There doesn’t appear to be any consensus No. 1 pick for 2024 and, in fact, no group of three, four or five players who have separated themselves from the field. The lottery will be held on May 12, a Sunday, after years of being held on a Tuesday in mid-May.
THIS WEEK IN PISTONS HISTORY
On April 18, 1989, Joe Dumars scored a career-high 42 points – he would later score 45 in March 1992 against Golden State – as the Pistons scored a 118-102 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers in their 79th game of the season to clinch the Central Division title and the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference over the Cavs. The Pistons would finish with a 63-19 record that stood as the best in franchise history until the 2005-06 Pistons finished 64-18. It was the first season for the Pistons at The Palace of Auburn Hills and they came into the game with a 59-19 record while Cleveland carried a 56-23 record. The Pistons controlled the game, leading by 10 after a quarter, four at halftime and by 11 after three quarters. Cleveland held the NBA’s second-best record going into the game and carried a nine-game home winning streak at Richfield Coliseum, but the Pistons had been on a roll since picking up Mark Aguirre at the February trade deadline and they dismantled the Cavs. Isiah Thomas came off the bench that day for the fourth straight game, but it was a wonder he was playing at all. Thomas had fractured his left hand on April 7 when he got in a brawl with Chicago Bulls center Bill Cartwright and was expected to miss the rest of the regular season and likely the first few rounds of the playoffs. Instead, Thomas returned with his left hand in a modified cast just five days after the injury and played 26 minutes in the clinching win at Cleveland, contributing 17 points and eight assists. The Pistons rolled through the playoffs that season, sweeping the first two series and the NBA Finals over the Lakers after a 4-2 series win over Chicago in the conference finals.
THE WEEK AHEAD
The Pistons will tend to the typical end-of-season housekeeping items, including exit interviews with players to set off-season agendas and goals. They’ll be doing similar things in Washington, Charlotte, Toronto and Brooklyn in the Eastern Conference and in San Antonio, Houston, Portland, Memphis and Utah in the Western Conference. The other 20 teams head to the postseason, which starts with play-in games Tuesday through Friday and the playoffs opening Saturday and Sunday.
Here are the matchups:
- PLAY-IN GAMES – In the East, Chicago will host Atlanta in the 9-10 game and Philadelphia will host Miami in the 7-8 game. The winner of the Chicago-Atlanta game will play the loser of the Philadelphia-Miami game to determine the No. 8 seed. The winner of the Philadelphia-Miami game will be the No. 7 seed. The East’s play-in games will be held Wednesday and Friday. In the West, New Orleans’ loss to the Los Angeles Lakers coupled with Phoenix’s win over Minnesota helped shape the top and bottom of the West bracket. New Orleans slipped from sixth to seventh as Phoenix leap-frogged the Pelicans to avoid the play-in round. New Orleans will host the Lakers again in the 7-8 game while Sacramento will host Golden State in the 9-10 game, both games Tuesday. The New Orleans-Los Angeles Lakers winner will be the No. 7 seed and play Denver in the first round, while the loser will host the winner of the Sacramento-Golden State game to earn the No. 8 seed.
- EASTERN CONFERENCE – Boston long ago clinched the No. 1 seed and enters the postseason with a historically strong 11.4-point differential. The Celtics will host the No. 8 seed as determined by the play-in tournament. New York’s late surge, coupled with Milwaukee losing its last two games with Giannis Antetokounmpo injured, gave the Knicks the No. 2 seed and home court over the Philadelphia-Miami play-in winner. Milwaukee will have home court over Indiana in the 3-6 matchup and Cleveland will have home court over Orlando in the 4-5 pairing.
- WESTERN CONFERENCE – The wild Sunday finish – which began with Oklahoma City, Denver and Minnesota tied at 56-25 atop the conference and no team in charge of its destiny – ended with wins by Oklahoma City and Denver to leave the Thunder and Nuggets at 1-2 and Minnesota falling to three after a home loss to Phoenix, which enabled the Suns to escape the play-in round. Oklahoma City will host the No. 8 seed as determined by the play-in tournament. Denver will host the winner of the Pelicans-Lakers play-in game to determine the No. 7 seed. Minnesota will host Phoenix after its Sunday loss to the Suns in the 3-6 matchup and the Los Angeles Clippers will have home court over Dallas in the 4-5 matchup.
TRIVIA ANSWER
Dave Bing holds the Pistons franchise record for most points in a playoff game with 44 in an April 1, 1968 loss to the great Boston Celtics dynasty in the sixth game of their first-round playoff series to give Boston a 4-2 series win. It was Bing’s second NBA season and he led the Pistons in scoring at 27.1 points a game during the 1967-68 season and upped that to 28.1 against the Celtics in the postseason. The Pistons finished 40-42 during the regular season with Dave DeBusschere (17.9 points, 13.5 rebounds) and Happy Hairston (18.8, 10.1) as Bing’s co-stars. The Pistons took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series when Bing’s 27 points led a 109-98 Game 3 road win – the teams alternated home court for every game – but the Celtics regained home court with a 135-110 Game 4 win at Cobo Arena and finished the series with three straight wins. Bing hit 19 of 38 shots and 6 of 7 free throws in Game 6 to amass his 44 points, but Boston got a triple-double from John Havlicek (31 points, 10 rebounds, 12 assists) and 15 points, 23 rebounds and nine assists from Bill Russell to end the Pistons’ season. After beating the Pistons, Boston would go on to win the NBA title by beating Philadelphia 4-3 in the Eastern Conference finals and the Los Angeles Lakers 4-2 in the NBA Finals. It was Boston’s 10th NBA title since winning its first in 1956-57 and the Celtics would defend in 1969 before the Russell-era team dissolved.
(Eddie Rivero, Pistons basketball information specialist, contributed to this report.)