How Bad Are the Pistons?

The Detroit Pistons have drafted in the top 5 in each of the last three seasons. This was going to be the breakout year. They started off 2-1 with consecutive wins over Charlotte and Chicago. The win over the Bulls was on Oct. 28. That was the last time the Pistons won a game. 

Detroit now owns an NBA record for the most consecutive losses in a single season – 27. On Thursday night Dec. 28, they travel to Boston to take on the league’s best team in hopes of ending their drought. That isn’t likely.

Pistons Win Totals & Schedule

Most sportsbooks give the Pistons between a 17.5 to 20 percent chance to win each of its remaining games this season. Detroit also has one of the toughest remaining schedules in the NBA. That brings up a number of questions, including when, if ever, will the Pistons win again?

At BetUS.com, you can find odds on who the Pistons will beat for their next regular season win. Odds to beat the Celtics are +1200 while the odds to beat the Toronto Raptors on Saturday night are coming in at +175. 

Bettors can also find the Pistons win totals as high as 12.5 and as low as 9.5. One sportsbook offers Detroit’s win total at 9.5 with the Under priced at +260 and the Over at -300. At another, bettors can get the Pistons Over 12.5 at +100 and the Under at -120.

Where exactly will Detroit land? That’s a tough question to answer, but answering it is really a question of how bad the Pistons really are.

An Exercise in Futility

The Pistons are now 2-27. They have a net rating of -13.5. Detroit ranks 28th in the league in scoring, averaging 109.3 points per game. Their leading scorer is Cade Cunningham, the No. 1 pick in the 2021 NBA draft. Cunningham averages 23 points per game. Even with Cunningham on the floor – he plays 34.8 minutes per game – the Pistons are being outscored by 6.2 points per 100 possessions.

Defensively, the Pistons rank No. 26 in points allowed per game. They give up an average of 120.8 per game. They don’t do anything particularly well on defense. They give up a ton of three-pointers trying to protect the rim, but that strategy hasn’t really panned out.

One thing that has affected the Pistons is the lack of Monte Morris and Bojan Bogdanovic (19.9 ppg in 11 games). Both players have been hurt. Bogdanovic just recently returned to the lineup. Morris should be back in the next few weeks. That could be reason for some optimism.

Historically Speaking

In the history of the NBA, 14 teams have won three or fewer games in their first 30 of a season. Those 14 teams ended up winning an average of 14.5 games in an 82-game season. Thirteen of the teams won at least 10 games. 

There have been nine NBA teams that have had losing streaks of at least 20 games in a single season. Six of the nine ended up winning 10 or more games. Four of these nine occurrences happened within the past 11 NBA seasons. 

The 2010-11 Cavs were in their first season without LeBron James. They were 8-19 and then lost 26 straight. The following season, the then-Charlotte Bobcats were 7-36 before losing 23 in a row.

The 2013-14 Sixers were 15-31 before they went on a 26-game bender. Houston traded away James Harden in 2020-21 before going on to lose their next 20 games in a row. 

Fade the Pistons

Yes, the Pistons are bad. How bad? We’ll see as the rest of the season plays out. You may want to consider fading the Pistons from here on out. What if you had faded Detroit beginning on Oct. 30 after their last win?

If you bet $100 against Detroit on the moneyline and then rolled the proceeds into your next bet, also against the Pistons, and then continued that process all the way through Tuesday night’s loss to Brooklyn, you would have quite a bankroll.

The very first wager would have paid out $147.62 on Oklahoma City. You roll that into the next game and bet on Portland at +150. That bet paid out $369.05. There were no more bets against Detroit at plus-money, but still if you had reinvested your winnings on the Pistons’ opponents, your bankroll would now be…drumroll…wait for it…$789,995.95!