THE PISTONS CANNOT LOSE FOREVER — CAN THEY? — IN A CHRISTMAS MODE
It’s stunning to think an NBA team, with stars taking nights off and back-to-backs leading to sluggishness, could lose 25 straight games as Detroit fans chant for owner Tom Gores to “Sell the team!"
Wearing black bowling shoes, Marvin Bagley III arrived at an alley consumed in Christmas spirit. He and basketball teammate Alec Burks, earning a combined $23 million this season, were paying off the loan debts of 18 local families. The sum is beyond $80,000, thrilling onlookers in Detroit.
“We have a special surprise for you all,” said Bagley, with a hand over his heart. “We want to say Merry Christmas. I hope you guys enjoy it.”
This is an astounding antithetical contrast to what is happening on the court, where the Pistons are about to become the NBA’s all-time losers. With two more losses to the Brooklyn Nets — Saturday night on the road, Tuesday night at home — they’ll have crashed with a historic 27 straight defeats in one regular season. The same team that once ruled the city and the sport with a Bad Boys mentality, along with more championship success in 2004, now hears chants of “Sell the team! Sell the team!” from non-holiday fans at Little Caesars Arena.
It’s hard to believe in today’s world, where star players continue to take games off and back-to-back evenings create snoozing performances, that the Pistons have not won since Oct. 28. Only the Philadelphia 76ers of “The Process” years have lost more over two seasons, a mark of 28 that could be exceeded into the 30s during a long road trip. It’s even harder to believe that new coach Monty Williams, who was chased out of Phoenix, makes an annual salary of $13 million, second only to five-time-champion Gregg Popovich in the league.
“This is incredibly hard to understand,” Williams said after a 119-111 loss to Utah. “I want to be careful with my words, because this one hurts more than most of them. A team that played last night got (50) points off turnovers and rebounds. It is unbelievably hard to understand how we can get outworked in those categories. It’s just carelessness. That’s the only way you can sum it up. It’s the same story — playing in a crowd, not being sure about where we need to go with the ball and being strong with the ball. It’s not gonna change.”
If it won’t change, how can owner Tom Gores ask folks to pay top dollar and watch his team? He runs a private equity firm based on Wilshire Boulevard and Santa Monica Boulevard in Beverly Hills. If he’s not careful, his Gores Group sign could be endangered, as fans know a franchise he purchased for $325 million in 2011 now is worth $3.1 billion. He hasn’t won more than 23 games since 2018 for a team that hasn’t won a playoff game since 2008. “What a scourge Tom Gores has been,” Detroit radio host Mike Valenti says. “He has employed clowns repeatedly, and this is, in my mind, the single-worst team in all of professional sports.”
Said guard Cade Cunningham, who was taken No. 1 in the 2021 draft: “This is history no one wants to be a part of. We’re not 2-26 bad — no way are we that bad. It’s definitely on my mind. We’re trying to build something that’s sustainable. It’s not like we’re just trying to just go out there and win one game. To be on the wrong side of history, nobody wants to be there. That is definitely an extra edge that we have to have, and we should have won this game. We didn’t.’’
They haven’t in two months, since the United Auto Workers were on strike. “Me personally, I mean, six turnovers kills us. We had 20 as a team, gave up 27 points. That kills us,” Cunningham said. “I didn’t keep anybody in front of me today. We’ve gotta be better. I’m sick right now. Sick.” Weren’t the Pistons supposed to improve with Cunningham, Jaden Ivey and Ausar Thompson, both of whom were taken fifth in the last two drafts? What about big man Jalen Duren and veteran shooter Bojan Bogdanovic? If Williams can’t be shuttled away without losing tens of millions, general manager Troy Weaver might have to go. You can’t keep losing and losing, surrendering more than 12 points a game than they’ve scored, and have people wondering about the league’s worst regular season ever: Charlotte’s 7-59 pileup during a lockout-shortened season in 2011-12.
This is a town that forgave the Lions when they went 0-16 and finally has been rewarded by coach Dan Campbell, who has forged a 10-4 season. But the Pistons aren’t supposed to suffer crises. Isiah Thomas was on national TV the other night, cringing during the loss. Joe Dumars, the league’s top cop, might want to suspend the players for production failures. Should we send Bill Laimbeer after the crew and disown them?
At least in one way, the Pistons found courage to win their third game. The players did so in relinquishing a piece of their salaries. “It’s for everybody here,” Bagley said as he held a large check. “Being with you guys is a special moment for me.” I am rooting for them to beat the 13-14 Nets at home, the day after Christmas, because they care about their community.
If not? Check in against Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs on Jan. 10, after which Gores can sell the team.
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Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.