Detroit Pistons: 3 steps to escape NBA purgatory in 2019

3. Tank the remainder of the season

With the new NBA Draft Lottery odds, it’s easier to get a better pick without having the worst record in the NBA. If the season ended today, they would be in line for the ninth and 39th picks in the draft.

While they’d miss out on the elite talents at the very top of the draft, there are a number of players in the 6-10 range that could drastically improve this team’s ceiling. The key for them the remainder of the year should be focusing on developing their young pieces.

With Blake Griffin and Drummond in tow, they won’t ever be far out of games, but the losses won’t hurt them as much as they did earlier in the year when a top playoff seed seemed more feasible. Whether it was overachieving early or the rest of the league becoming wise to their system, they have continued to fall down the standings, and they need to let that happen before they can go back up.

Tanking isn’t something that a team ever wants to do, because it hurts their profits and the fanbase’s enthusiasm can dwindle, but when it’s done properly (see Philadelphia 76ers), great things can come from it. The Pistons need to utilize their cap space this offseason to focus on filling out the roster without handing out big contracts just to make a splash signing. Tanking isn’t the sexiest thing to do, but it must be done.