Detroit Pistons: 3 midseason takeaways in 2018-19

The Detroit Pistons have disappointed after a strong early start. With the 2018-19 season halfway over, let’s look back at what we have learned so far.

The Detroit Pistons came into the 2018-19 NBA season with a lot of newfound optimism. They had a new head coach in place to go with new pieces they added this offseason, and they were fully healthy.

With 41 games down, the season is halfway over and the Pistons find themselves in a similar spot. They’re 18-21, sitting in ninth in the Eastern Conference standings. This team has spent a long time in the middle of the Eastern Conference pack, and it isn’t changing this year.

The team ranks 23rd and 15th in offensive and defensive rating, respectively. Outside of Blake Griffin, they have been largely inconsistent on a nightly basis. He will likely be their lone All-Star weekend representative, which is disappointing for a team that thought it had a Big 3 in place with Andre Drummond and Reggie Jackson. While the playoffs aren’t out of reach, this team should be okay with just tanking the rest of the season.

With so many surprise performers around the league such as the Brooklyn Nets and Sacramento Kings, it’s disappointing to see the Pistons were still unable to take that next step. In the disappointment though, we can still learn some things about this team for the remainder of the year and the future.