Not long ago, say just a few months, the Detroit Pistons were a complete afterthought within the Metro Detroit area when it came to people’s sports interests.
Football is king no matter how bad the Lions are, the Tigers always own the summer and have had a ton of recent success lately, and hockey is bigger here than almost anywhere else, largely due to the unprecedented long-term success of the Red Wings.
Now, with the Lions sitting at 1-7 and likely facing yet another dreaded rebuilding phase, the Tigers fresh off of a last-place finish, and the Red Wings shuffling their way through a mediocre start, people in the area suddenly really only have true optimism for one franchise at this very moment.
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The Detroit Pistons.
It’s been a while, to say the least. Despite being the toast of the town for the majority of the 2000s, fans in the city quickly forgot about its storied NBA franchise once things went south (think Chauncey Billups trade), and regularly following the team meant being forced to deal with a lack of direction and what had been a general feeling of hopelessness for almost a decade now.
Fans who’ve stuck with the team have had to suffer through the franchise actually selling the idea of Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva as a legitimate core, as well as the brief coaching stints of Michael Curry, John Kuester, Lawrence Frank, and Maurice Cheeks.
In a town with three other major sports teams as well as two major universities (Michigan and Michigan State) that pretty much divide the area in terms of fan support, it’s hard to blame the non-hardcore NBA people for tuning the Pistons out for the last several years.
The franchise isn’t “back” yet, they’re certainly still far away from being a true contender. But with Andre Drummond putting up Wilt Chamberlain-type numbers through the first four games and Reggie Jackson justifying the gaudy contract that he received this Summer thus far, there is a palpable buzz surrounding the team that hasn’t been present for quite some time.
Andre Drummond: 75 pts +75 rebs through 1st 4 games
— KCAL News (@kcalnews) November 4, 2015
Last player to have 75/75 through 1st 4?
Wilt Chamberlain: ('70-'71) 95 pts, 93 rebs
There were brief fun moments last year, most notably the impressive run (#FAFW) that the team went on in the games immediately following the release of Josh Smith.
They looked poised for the playoffs at one point in the weak Eastern Conference, but those aspirations came to a screeching halt once Brandon Jennings was injured at a time when he was playing arguably the best basketball of his NBA career.
The injury to Jennings likely prompted the team to trade for Reggie Jackson, and now the team desperately awaits the return of Jennings to squeeze life into a bench that has been mostly dreadful through the first four games.
Granted, the Pistons being potentially the best team in the city at the moment says just as much about the state of the city’s teams right now as it does the Pistons. However, this is a franchise that has been mocked and dismissed by its own locals for years now.
Attendance has been extremely low and it’s been an overall feeling of apathy towards the team from everyone except diehard fans. Simply put, there’s been very little to root for or be excited about.
So while potentially being the unofficial “best team in Detroit” is ultimately very meaningless, it’s an injection of excitement that the franchise has been seeking for several years now.
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It’s been a long time since the Pistons were playing meaningful basketball into the spring and capturing the attention of the average sports fan in Detroit, but there’s a legitimate chance for that to happen this year.