Injuries hurt ability to rise
The Pistons entered the season with a young nucleus led by Cade Cunningham, the No. 1 pick in the 2021 draft. There was talk of a new phase of their rebuild.
Instead, they appear poised to finish with the worst record in the NBA.
An injury to Cunningham limited him to 12 games this season, and the Pistons have lost 14 of their last 15 to fall to 16-56 entering Tuesday night’s game against the Hawks. The Eastern Conference’s second-worst record belongs to the Hornets, who have dealt with their own major injury to Lamelo Ball. Instead of showing progress in 202223, both teams have had to spend another season being patient.
“We’ve been doing it with young players, and their development is our situation now with our record,” Pistons coach Dwane Casey said recently. “But for me, their growth, a young man like James Wiseman, a young man like Jaden Ivey, Jalen Duren, those guys’ growth is our record. We don’t talk about wins, we talk about having small victories, whether it’s rebounding, transition defense, those little things. But for us, that’s growth, because for us, the pot of gold is at the end of the rainbow.”
Pistons fans can be forgiven for thinking they were a closer to the end of that rainbow before this season. They’d added Ivey and Duren, two of the top 13 picks in last year’s draft, and Cunningham was coming off a strong rookie season. The Pistons had also acquired Bojan Bogdanovic from the Jazz.
Casey said at the time the Pistons were young, but the most talented they’d been since he took over in 2018.
But Cunningham didn’t play after Nov. 9 and had season-ending surgery on his shin. The Pistons acquired Wiseman, the second overall pick in 2020, from the Warriors.
The Hornets (23-50) also feel strongly about their future, but this season has been nothing short of a disaster for coach Steve Clifford in his return to Charlotte.
Ball, taken one pick after Wiseman in 2020, was an All-star last season but was limited to 36 games this season due to three left ankle sprains and a broken right ankle. He expects to be ready for training camp in September.
The Hornets went 43-39 last season. But even before their injury problems, the Hornets’ 2022-23 campaign seemed doomed. Restricted free agent Miles Bridges, the team’s leading scorer last season, was arrested on domestic abuse charges and never re-signed. He pleaded no contest.
Clifford does feel good about the young talent on the roster, including the development of rookie Mark Williams and Nick Richards, the team’s two young 7-foot centers. He’s also high on forward JT Thor and guard Bryce Mcgowens.
The injuries to Cunningham and Ball have made this season another dreary one for the Pistons and Hornets, but the presence of those two mean improvement could come quickly if they’re healthy. And now the Pistons and Hornets can look forward to more high draft picks.