Detroit Pistons: Best candidates for 2018-19 NBA awards
By Amaar Burton
As the Detroit Pistons bring the pieces together to improve as a team, these players (and one coach) could make a case for the NBA’s top individual awards.
Not only has it been a long time since the Detroit Pistons won the trophy that all NBA teams covet, but it’s also been a while since members of the Pistons earned the individual hardware given to the league’s top achievers.
The Pistons have won three NBA championships as a franchise, most recently in 2004. However, they have never had one of their own win the league’s Most Valuable Player award. They’ve also never had a Most Improved Player.
Grant Hill won Rookie of the Year with Detroit in 1995, and Dave Bing won it in 1967. Don Meineke of the Fort Wayne Pistons actually won the inaugural Rookie of the Year award in 1953, when all he had to do was average 10.7 points and 6.9 rebounds per game. That was the lowest scoring average for a ROY winner until Malcolm Brogdon of the Milwaukee Bucks scored 10.2 points per game on his way to ROY in 2017.
Two Pistons coaches have earned Coach of the Year: Ray Scott in 1974, and Rick Carlisle in 2002. Coincidentally, both men were fired less than two years after receiving their respective awards.
Corliss Williamson won Detroit’s only Sixth Man of the Year award in 2002.
The Pistons have been a virtual dynasty when it comes to Defensive Player of the year, though, with six of those honors in the franchise’s history. Ben Wallace won it four times, and Dennis Rodman won it twice. Wallace’s last DPOY was handed to him in 2006.
What are the odds of a Piston winning one of these awards for the 2018-19 season? We’ll look at which Pistons have the best chance at competing for the league’s major awards, along with their odds of actually bringing it to Detroit.