The Detroit Pistons will put their five-game winning streak on the line when they host the Golden State Warriors tonight. Draymond Green talked about the matchup on his podcast The Draymond Green Show, and was nothing but complimentary about what the Pistons were doing. After years of being an afterthought at the bottom of the Eastern Conference, the Pistons are turning things around this season.
Advertisement
After setting the NBA record for the longest losing streak ever recorded last season, the Pistons made rapid changes. They fired Monty Williams, got in JB Bickerstaff, and made some smart veteran pickups in the off-season, including Tim Hardaway Jr. and Tobias Harris. It’s worked wonders, as they now sit 8th in the East, with a record of 19-18.
Green acknowledged their change in fortunes, and credited their offensive engine, Cade Cunningham, as one of the main reasons for the turnaround. He said,
“I think what they’re doing is great. They got some young pieces. I think they got one in Cade Cunningham. They got salary cap space, they got draft picks. They got everything you need to head in the right direction … J.B. [Bickerstaff] was a great hire, he’s getting the best out of them young guys.”
The Pistons have only played 37 games so far this season, and at 19-18, they’ve already easily surpassed their 14-win total from a year ago. Green’s co-host Baron Davis mentioned that the Pistons are at .500 for the first time in January since 2018, a crazy long time for a team with such a proud tradition, from Isiah Thomas and the Bad Boys to Rip Hamilton, Chauncey Billups, and Ben Wallace.
Green grew up in Saginaw, Michigan as a Pistons fan, and he seemed genuinely happy that his hometown team seems to finally be turning it around. He seemed especially taken with Detroit’s young core, praising Cunningham, Ausar Thompson, and Jaden Ivey, who unfortunately went down recently with a bad leg injury.
“For years you look at the Pistons and you’re like, ‘Oh this is an easy game, they don’t play hard, they’re trash, blah blah blah.’ Not anymore. You’re looking at them now and they’re coming in and they are competing at an elite level.”
The Pistons and Warriors are two teams headed in opposite directions
Green’s praise for the Pistons stands in stark contrast to the way his Warriors have been playing lately. While Detroit has won eight of its last nine games, Golden State has tumbled down the Western Conference leaderboard with a prolonged stretch of miserable play.
The Warriors are actually a half-game behind the Pistons in the overall standings thanks to a 6-15 run that has dropped them to .500 and on the outside looking in of the playoff picture.
The biggest change for the Pistons has been the head coaching switch from Monty Williams to J.B. Bickerstaff. Just as the Warriors hit their stride when they brought in Steve Kerr to replace Mark Jackson (though in fairness to Jackson, the team he put on the floor was light years better than Williams’), the Pistons have begun to unlock the talents of their young players with Bickerstaff in charge.
Will Thursday’s game be a “passing of the torch” moment as the Warriors continue their slide and the Pistons resume their charge up the standings? Or will Green, Steph Curry (questionable with a knee injury), and company fight back Father Time for a little longer? This is going to be a good one.
