If anyone has been following the NBA this year, you have seen that the Detroit Pistons have lost 20 games in a row. 7 away from the record for most consecutive loses, the Pistons look absolutely hopeless and might not win a game before the new year. However, the Pistons are not the only team on an insane losing streak. The San Antonio Spurs have lost 17 games in a row and the Washington Wizards have lost 14 of their last 15 games beating only the Pistons in that time. In my opinion, the talent of these rosters are not that much worse than some of the “bad” teams in the NBA like the Hornets, Jazz, Blazers. There are stars on each of these teams and they all have a significant amount of lottery talent on their rosters. I am going to try to breakdown each team, if we can see a win anytime soon, and explain why this is a horrible year to tank.
The Detroit Pistons are 2-21 to start the year and they have lost 20 straight games. The Texas Rangers have won more recently than the Pistons have. Not only are the Pistons losing, they are getting embarrassed. After making new head coach Monty Williams the highest paid coach in the NBA this offseason, there were some expectations for Detroit to at least win some games and compete for a play-in spot. However, Monty has been horrible. His starting lineups change a lot but none of the starting lineups have been used maximize the talent and spacing around their star Point Guard Cade Cunningham. For example, Killian Hayes has started 18 of the 22 games while Jaden Ivey has only started 6! Killian Hayes has a lot of haters but I think he is a solid rotational piece in the NBA. But there is no reason he should be starting over Ivey who is a natural born athlete and gifted scorer. Ivey’s minutes has decreased from 31 minutes per game his rookie year to 23 minutes per game this year and his points have gone down from 16 to 11.
Isaiah Stewart is the only other player to start every game besides Cade. I like Beef Stew’s game and I think he can be like a Bobby Portis or Naz Reid off the bench. When Jalen Duren is healthy, he is their best center by far and should start every game at the 5. Duren and Stewart should not be on the floor together much, let alone start together as it just clogs up space for Cade to operate. The FIBA team said the best guys on the select team were Cade and Duren this summer and I truly believe they can both be future all-stars. The last person on this team that gets played unfairly is the 5th overall pick Ausar Thompson. Ausar is a beast on the court, especially the defensive side of the ball. He makes winning plays and is second on the team in rebounding averaging 8.4 boards per game. I feel that there is a clear starting 5 that maximizes the entire team’s potential and it goes Cade, Ivey, Ausar, Bogdanovic, and Duren when healthy. This team allows Cade to do his thing offensively, and can get out and run with Ivey and Thompson. It also allows Killian Hayes to play his true position at PG with the second unit and can facilitate to shooters like Marcus Sasser and Joe Harris. Overall, Monty needs to wake up and start to compete in these games.
The Spurs have been just as bad as the Pistons but have Victor Wembanyama so they have not been clowned as much. I think the Spurs have a lot of talent on their roster being led by Keldon Johnson and Devin Vassell. Both first round picks are real solid wings and average about 17 points per game. I think Pop has done a pretty poor job when it comes to providing Wemby with the proper help. Wemby just got moved to the 5 rather than starting at the 4 and has had his two best games of the year and back to back 20 rebound games. A generational player doing generational things in his first season. But for so long, he was stuck at the 4 with Jeremy Sochan at the point guard position and Zach Collins at the 5. I really like Sochan’s game and I think he can be groomed into a solid point forward but he does not currently have the proper basketball IQ to be a point guard for a team with Victor Wembanyama. Tre Jones has been their best pure point guard and when paired with Wemby, they have an insane net rating. Tre can get Victor the ball and I think should start at the 1. Tre Jones has started 0 games this year and Popovich has used Vassell as the other starting point guard. It is not easy to win in this league but given the hype of Wemby, his team can not lose 20 games in a row. I hope the Spurs are able to turn this around to put together at least some wins.
Now onto the Wizards. The Wizards do not look like they are even playing NBA basketball and their offense looks like a pick-up game, especially Jordan Poole. Poole signed a 4 year 128 million dollar deal this offseason and is averaging just 16 points per game. Poole does not have the determination to win that he had on the Warriors prior to being punched in the face. Kyle Kuzma has been hooping too averaging a career high in points and assists. The scouting team and player development staff need to be fired because none of their lottery picks have improved as much as they should be. Dani Avdija and Corey Kispert have been decent but neither one of them have broken out yet. Johnny Davis has been ruined as a basketball player and is no longer able to shoot, even though he was a bucket in college. I am not sure how to fix the Wizards as I just don’t think Kyle Kuzma can ever be a team’s best player and then expect to win games.
The reason none of this losing makes sense is because there is no clear top prospect to tank for. It’s an awkward year for the draft sandwiched between two generational talents with Victory Wembanayama and Cooper Flagg. The top of the draft has a few decent prospects but if guys like Alex Sarr and Ron Holland were in this years draft class, I am not sure they would be top 10 picks. I really hope these teams can turn it around and get a few wins before 2024 as they are currently embarrassing a league that has more talent than ever.
JakesTakes 
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