ORLANDO, Fla. — It was solely a yr in the past that, arguably, essentially the most collectively joyous second of the Detroit Pistons’ rebuild passed off.
You keep in mind it. It was final season’s opening sport at Detroit’s Little Caesars Area. Pistons towards Orlando Magic, two of the NBA’s rising younger squads. The 2021 No. 1 decide versus the 2022 No. 1 decide. It was a must-see sport for all basketball geeks.
With 11.6 seconds remaining, the Pistons’ Cade Cunningham drove down the center of the lane and kicked it out to the nook to Isaiah Stewart, who drilled a backbreaking 3 that sealed a victory.
The rebuild couldn’t have felt extra price it for the time being for followers. For one night time, it appeared that two robust, dropping seasons and the pandemic had been historical past. On the night time, the Pistons seemed to be the leaders of the kiddie clubhouse.
Quick ahead a bit of greater than a yr later, and these two groups are a world aside. Possibly extra like a galaxy. On Friday night time, the Magic, who’re nonetheless younger, handed Detroit its greatest lack of the season, 123-91, a 32-point defeat that didn’t even really feel that shut after the sport’s opening six minutes.
For Orlando, it was the franchise’s fifteenth win in 22 video games. Not solely are the Magic pointing on the league’s different younger groups and laughing, however they’re additionally making it recognized to the NBA’s title contenders that they should hurry up and deal with enterprise as a result of they bought subsequent. Orlando — sure, Orlando — is the No. 2 seed within the Jap Convention.
On the opposite aspect of the ground, the 2-20 Pistons had been handed their nineteenth straight loss, seven in need of the NBA document for the worst dropping skid in a season. The Pistons look to be not simply damaged however shattered into 1,000,000 items.
“We are able to’t lose by 30 to the Magic,” mentioned Detroit guard Killian Hayes, whose resurgence in latest weeks has been one of many few shiny spots in a deplorable marketing campaign. “Now we have to attract that line, like Coach mentioned.
“We are able to’t actually fear in regards to the Magic. Now we have to give attention to us and what we are able to do to get higher. What they’re doing … good for them. We have to get to the purpose the place we’re turning that web page. We maintain speaking about it, however now we’ve to do one thing.”
Certainly.
Nonetheless, every little thing Detroit needs to be about, Orlando is. The Pistons got here into the season talking advert nauseam about changing into a stable defensive crew after being abysmal final season. Detroit was the Twenty seventh-ranked protection final season. It’s twenty fourth this yr. Progress? Positive. The Magic had been the NBA’s 18th-ranked protection a season in the past. This yr? Orlando is the second-best protection within the NBA by way of 22 video games.
Apparently, younger groups can defend.
The Magic, although younger, are in lockstep on the basketball courtroom. There’s a palpable continuity. In spite of everything, their prime 5 gamers in whole minutes this season all performed at the least 57 video games a season in the past. You don’t defend like Orlando does with out being linked.
On this Oct, 19, 2022 picture, Bojan Bogdanovic high-fives a fan after the Pistons’ victory over the Magic. (Chris Schwegler / NBAE through Getty Photographs)
As for the Pistons, of their top-five gamers in whole minutes this season, solely two performed greater than 50 video games final season. Bojan Bogdanovic, who led Detroit in minutes a season in the past, performed in simply his third sport this season Friday resulting from a calf damage. Cunningham missed all however 12 video games final season. The Pistons usually seem like a crew that met simply minutes earlier than the sport. The chemistry off the ground is there, nevertheless it simply hasn’t translated to the courtroom. Too many accidents. Too many turnovers. Too many straightforward buckets by the opposing crew. Too many stretches of little to no factors.
“You possibly can see instantly that everybody (on the Magic) is aware of who they’re — their roles, what they’re alleged to do after they are available in, and so they’re linked,” Pistons massive man Stewart mentioned. “They’re linked. You hear them speaking. You possibly can simply inform they’re linked.”
Final season, the Pistons had been coping with a season-ending damage to their franchise cornerstone, Cunningham. They had been compelled to focus extra on particular person improvement and, within the course of, possibly attempting a bit of too arduous to win the Victor Wembanyama sweepstakes. In the meantime, the Magic had been planting the seeds for this season and, extra importantly, by no means allowed franchise-crippling dropping to seep into their mindset.
Orlando began final season with a 5-20 document. It ended the season with 34 wins. The Pistons have gained simply 4 video games since final season’s NBA commerce deadline. Detroit has to discover a win between now and Dec. 31 simply to get to 10 victories in 2023.
Whereas it doesn’t really feel seemingly proper now, the Pistons might comply with Orlando’s blueprint of final yr. They want a win first.
After dropping 9 straight video games final season from Nov. 19 to Dec. 5, the Magic lastly gained a sport — their sixth victory of the season. That win was adopted by a 6-game profitable streak and eight victories in 9 video games.
One win. You by no means know what it might do.
“It’s about momentum, power shift,” Stewart mentioned. “If we get some wins, I really feel just like the (continuity) would possibly present extra. All of us (get alongside) with one another off the courtroom. It’s simply all about transferring over to the courtroom.”
It will be irresponsible to not point out that the Magic did have a kick-start to their rebuild. Buying and selling Nikola Vucevic to the Bulls in 2021 allowed Orlando to land stable younger massive man Wendell Carter Jr. and two first-round picks, certainly one of which grew to become top-10 decide Franz Wagner, who has been one of many group’s pillars alongside Paolo Banchero.
You want as many bites of the apple as you will get when rebuilding, and Orlando made good use of its additional alternative. When the Pistons started their rebuild, their three “franchise” gamers — Blake Griffin, Andre Drummond and Reggie Jackson — introduced Detroit nothing however expiring contracts, second-round picks and lifeless cash. The Pistons began their rebuild from zero.
Even with the dearth of property and further lottery picks at their disposal, the Pistons dropping by 30-plus factors to the Magic, a yr after they had been in the identical boat, for his or her nineteenth straight defeat alerts one thing deeper. Detroit is past being in a funk. This nearly feels everlasting. An excessive amount of dropping in a brief period of time does nobody any good.
With that mentioned, I’m positive Magic followers felt the identical manner when their crew was 5-20 amid a 9-game dropping skid this time final season. Issues can change, I suppose. Something is feasible.
For now, although, the one factor that appears completely different is the trajectory of those two franchises.
(Prime picture of Bojan Bogdanovic driving to the basket towards Orlando on Friday: Fernando Medina / NBAE through Getty Photographs)
