Hoops Habit
Fansided

How the Detroit Pistons can become relevant again in 2018-19

By Amaar Burton

LOS ANGELES, CA - FEBRUARY 17: Andre Drummond #0 of Team LeBron is interviewed for the upcoming 2018 NBA All-Star game during Media Day at the Verizon Up Arena at LACC on February 17, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images)NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - FEBRUARY 17: Andre Drummond #0 of Team LeBron is interviewed for the upcoming 2018 NBA All-Star game during Media Day at the Verizon Up Arena at LACC on February 17, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images)NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
1 of 10
Next
Photo by Chris Schwegler/NBAE via Getty Images
Photo by Chris Schwegler/NBAE via Getty Images /

The Detroit Pistons seem to be on their way to being a good team again. Now they face the challenge of becoming a team that NBA fans and media care about.

For the Detroit Pistons, as well as many other teams across many other leagues, rebuilding as a franchise involves more than just putting together a roster that will win more games and move closer to championship contention.

Professional sports is an entertainment business. Therefore, being interesting to the mainstream audience is just as important as being successful in the win-loss column.

The most valuable team in the NBA, according to Forbes’ most recent annual report, is the New York Knicks. That same team has missed the playoffs five years in a row, but thanks to public interest and cultural relevancy, Knicks owner James Dolan can still consider himself a winner despite all the losing that happens when it’s time for his team to actually play basketball.

Six of the top 10 teams on that Forbes ranking missed the playoffs last season: the Knicks, Los Angeles Lakers, Chicago Bulls, Brooklyn Nets, Los Angeles Clippers and Dallas Mavericks. Five of the bottom 10 — the least valuable teams in the league — made the playoffs: the Philadelphia 76ers, Indiana Pacers, Milwaukee Bucks, Minnesota Timberwolves and New Orleans Pelicans.

The Pistons are in the unenviable position of being comparatively irrelevant both on and off the court.

Detroit has missed the playoffs in eight of the last nine seasons, and hasn’t won a playoff game since 2008. Meanwhile, the franchise ranked 25th out of 30 teams in Forbes’ valuation. It’s been quite the fall, considering the Pistons were one of the NBA’s most popular brands and most successful teams in the 1980s and early 1990s. The Pistons enjoyed a relevancy resurgence in the 2000s, highlighted by their 2004 championship, but have since fallen off the radar for a lot of fans and media.

The Pistons have made personnel moves in 2018 that have put them in position to improve on the court and get back into the Eastern Conference playoff picture.

But what can the Pistons do to draw the eyes and ears of the public and become a team that, win or lose, simply gets people talking about them again?

Home/Detroit Pistons