Detroit Pistons Reaction: Best Team Since November of 2008
- Chad Marriott
- 1 day ago
- 4 min read
The 2025-26 Detroit Pistons are off to a 5-2 start, their third such start in the last 16 seasons. If they win their next game, they'll be off to their best start since 2008-09 when they traded Chauncey Billups for Allen Iverson. Last year began a series of "not since" graphics and Tweets that increasingly indicate that this group is the best the franchise has had since the end of the Goin' To Work era. The most important "not since" is the feel of this team. It has been since that Going to Work team that the Pistons have had a real contender.
Last night, the Pistons defeated the Memphis Grizzlies 114-106. They had a chance in the third quarter to bury them, but to Memphis's credit, they made it a competitive fourth quarter. This game defines the different feelings about the team. In years past, they would have lost this game, lacking either the talent or the resolve to hold off the Grizzlies' run. So what's different?
Detroit Pistons: Coaching
First, J.B. Bickerstaff (bold claim incoming) is the Pistons' best coach since Larry Brown. Bickerstaff, like the Hall of Fame coach, has demonstrated the ability to motivate and teach this young team in a way that is not easy. Since 2008-09, the Pistons have had eight coaches. Bickerstaff is the third to post a .500 or above season, the fourth to make the playoffs, and the first to win a playoff game. Most impressively, he helped the Pistons become the first team to triple their win total from the previous season.
Bickerstaff has a better roster than most of these other coaches, but in the end, results matter. Monty Williams and Dwane Casey coached Cade Cunningham. The team had no identity. In fact, Bickerstaff always provides the Pistons with that "not since." For the first time in a long time, the Pistons have an identity. They play tough defense, take care of the ball, and get out on the break.
Detroit Pistons: Talent
Cade Cunningham might be the Pistons' most talented player since Isiah Thomas. Some may argue for Grant Hill, and that argument is fair, but Cunningham has more in common with Thomas than Hill. When Grant Hill arrived in Detroit, the team was four years removed from an NBA title and two years removed from a winning record and playoff appearance.
Cunningham arrived two years removed from the team's last playoff appearance, six years from its last winning season, and nearly 20 years from its previous title. Isiah Thomas joined the Pistons before they had a legacy. Cade Cunningham has been tasked with rebuilding it. He's the biggest difference maker in changing the outcome of games. Last night, when the Grizzlies attempted to make a comeback, they were silenced by his 19 fourth-quarter points.
Prepare for more superlatives. Jalen Duren and Isaiah Stewart are the Pistons' most impactful bigs since Ben Wallace and Rasheed Wallace. This take suggests they are more impactful than Blake Griffin and Andre Drummond. They are. Griffin was a high-volume shooter on a bad team. Stewart impacts the game on both ends of the floor. He blocks shots, rebounds, and can score. Duren is the perfect big man to complement Cunningham's style of play. He's developing into the player the Pistons need him to be to have postseason success.
Ausar Thompson's development should go without note. Thompson has been a utility player for the Pistons, able to defend the other team's best player, handle the ball, and score when needed. He does whatever the team needs him to do. If he develops a respectable outside shot, he can be the Pistons' "second star."
Detroit Pistons Reaction: Can They Be As Good As the Goin' To Work Era?
It's a tough comparison, and this reaction may be asking too much of the Detroit Pistons. That team had a run of playoff appearances from 2002 to 2009, including six straight Eastern Conference Finals appearances. This Pistons team hasn't advanced past the first round. The difference is the age. When the Pistons won the title in 2004, both Ben and Rasheed were 29, Billups was 27, Richard Hamilton was 25, and Tayshaun Prince was 23. Cunningham and Stewart are the eldest members of this Pistons core at 24. Duren, Thompson, Ron Holland, and Jaden Ivey are all younger than that.
The Pistons' ceiling is high. This team could go on a run of success that sees its heights 2-3 years from now. They could jump ahead of schedule, too. They have the talent to be the third era of dominant Pistons basketball. It all depends on their continued growth. Will they continue their trajectory from a year ago and go on their first playoff run, or will they fall into old patterns (turnovers, poor transition defense) and become more similar to the Pistons of the teal era? The coaching, along with the level and depth of talent, says the former.
(All stats provided by Basketball Reference)
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