Poll: Over 50% through the season how do you feel?

ComboGuardCity · Post #1 » by **ComboGuardCity** » Tue Jan 21, 2025 4:36 am

Wins
2024: 4
2025: 22 (+18)

How do you feel at this point? This is the best I’ve felt about pistons basketball since 07-08.

aad · Post #2 » by **aad** » Tue Jan 21, 2025 5:21 am

It feels good to finally be out the basement last season was a nightmare

Mr Peanut · Post #3 » by **Mr Peanut** » Tue Jan 21, 2025 10:41 am

I was expecting 25-30 wins this season, and barring a disaster we should exceed that and I can see us finishing around .500. So overall would say mildly more than pleasantly surprised.

Beyond my wildest dreams would be a top 4 finish in the East, which would've been a pipe dream coming into the season although is now not entirely impossible (but still unlikely).

440BB · Post #4 » by **440BB** » Tue Jan 21, 2025 11:28 am

I started feeling better when Weaver and Williams were replaced with legitimate basketball people. I expected the Pistons to reach 30+ wins just with that change.

Adding appropriate vets and putting players in positions to succeed seems to be all it took to become a watchable, fairly successful team while the youngsters continue to grow. I feel great about where they've gotten this season!

chrbal · Post #5 » by **chrbal** » Tue Jan 21, 2025 1:49 pm

I expected 25-30 with just the changes we made. Turns out Monty really didn’t care, and the graphic about how many guys we played are not currently in the NBA says a lot. And Killian was that much of an overused problem last season.

It’s crazy to think Ivey is done for the season and we are still trending on being a playoff team.

I’m not saying throw the bag at Beasley, but they need to treat him like a prized free agent from now until we sign him on day one of free agency

Kalamazoo317 · Post #6 » by **Kalamazoo317** » Tue Jan 21, 2025 4:08 pm

I thought we were going to be dog crap again. The defense looked terrible on paper and none of the additions really moved the needle that much in my mind. So this is beyond my wildest dreams. A roster that fits and has spacing, coaching that has gotten the team to buy-in on defense, and Cade leveling up to real star status has been huge.

SuperBad · Post #7 » by **SuperBad** » Tue Jan 21, 2025 8:44 pm

I didn’t think we were going to be this good, but I did expect a pretty big jump because we added some real nba players not half a roster of projects. Monty was awful and lost them be game 5 last year, Bickerstaff is basketball coach on a different level just out of being a son of a coach his whole life, he respects the game too much to throw the opportunity away.

joedumars1 · Post #8 » by **joedumars1** » Tue Jan 21, 2025 9:22 pm

Cade Cunningham that is all

breezypeezy · Post #9 » by **breezypeezy** » Wed Jan 22, 2025 6:16 am

6th seed is ours to pluck next!

Canadafan · Post #10 » by **Canadafan** » Wed Jan 22, 2025 10:30 am

I dunno, once Franz comes back, Orlando will be tough to catch. Indy seems to be separating themselves too. Theyre 5 and 6 seeds.
Us, Atlanta, Miami, Chicago and the Sixers will be battling it out for 7-10.

bstein14 · Post #11 » by **bstein14** » Wed Jan 22, 2025 2:39 pm

Canadafan wrote:I dunno, once Franz comes back, Orlando will be tough to catch. Indy seems to be separating themselves too. Theyre 5 and 6 seeds.
Us, Atlanta, Miami, Chicago and the Sixers will be battling it out for 7-10.

Pacers are starting 2025 with a stretch of games were 15 of their first 17 games are likely going to be against teams with worst records than them.... the only two games they are likely to play against a team with a better record were the back-to-back games they played against Cleveland where they split.

So Indy is in a stretch to start 2025 that is for sure their easiest stretch of the year.

They've got SA, SA, DET, ATL, UTAH, POR, LAC, LAL coming up and the two games against LA are still up in the air if the Pacers will have a better record or not going into those games so its at least a 13 of 15 game stretch against teams with worst records but could be up to a 15 of 17 game stretch to start 2025.

Billl · Post #12 » by **Billl** » Wed Jan 22, 2025 2:56 pm

I thought we would be pretty bad again with a ceiling of competing for that last playing spot. To be sitting at 7 and only a half game out of 6 is way beyond anything I thought.

Of course, Orlando is at 8 due entirely to injuries. And miami is sitting at 9 due to a self imposed jimmy butler problem. I didn't think Phili would be a contender, but I didn't see a 15-27 start for them to be just hoping to get that last playin slot.

So I'm thrilled we made the leap up to being a competitive team again and double thrilled that Cade has ascended to that all-star tier we all hoped for. But realistically, we still need another all-star on the roster and significant development from some of our young guys if we have championship aspirations. We aren't just a backup pg away or something.

bstein14 · Post #13 » by **bstein14** » Thu Jan 23, 2025 2:20 pm

Billl wrote:I thought we would be pretty bad again with a ceiling of competing for that last playing spot. To be sitting at 7 and only a half game out of 6 is way beyond anything I thought.

Of course, Orlando is at 8 due entirely to injuries. And miami is sitting at 9 due to a self imposed jimmy butler problem. I didn't think Phili would be a contender, but I didn't see a 15-27 start for them to be just hoping to get that last playin slot.

So I'm thrilled we made the leap up to being a competitive team again and double thrilled that Cade has ascended to that all-star tier we all hoped for. But realistically, we still need another all-star on the roster and significant development from some of our young guys if we have championship aspirations. We aren't just a backup pg away or something.

Yeah, if you kind of looked at things objectively there were teams clearly shifting to the tank this year (Wizards, Nets, Raptors and maybe the Bulls who sold off Caruso, let DeMar walk, and were reportedly shopping LaVine and Vucevic). That meant we were likely at worst going to be 11th. We were looking pretty likely to be in that 10th or 11th spot with Charlotte right there as well IMO but Miami chemistry issues after not paying Butler, Orlando injury issues, Philly injury issues combined with PG13 being a poor signing IMO, and then you've got Hawks who have been pretty even with us and they are also a team I originally thought was likely to be in that 9/10/11 mix with us and Charlotte

Before the season started it was four groups IMO.

Cream of the crop
Boston, New York, Milwaukee

Rest of the Playoff teams
Cleveland, Orlando, Philly, Indiana, Miami

Play-in Range
Detroit, Charlotte, Atlanta

Tankathon
Brooklyn, Washington, Chicago, Toronto

It seemed like the #10 seed was very obtainable but that there was almost a wall of just simply better teams ahead of us that made even thinking about a #6 seed foolish after a 14 win season.

LaSheed · Post #14 » by **LaSheed** » Thu Jan 23, 2025 3:09 pm

This was the least interested in the NBA that I have ever been. Just watching guys shoot 3s all game really has made it boring for me. Of course I kept my eyes on Pistons but overall I'm just down on the NBA in general.

Super excited about where we are at though. No need to push our chips all in. Keep going on this upwards trajectory.

MortSahlfan · Post #15 » by **MortSahlfan** » Thu Jan 23, 2025 3:32 pm

I agree, except I want the Pistons in win-now format and hope they make a trade, even though it might be difficult to see someone go.

I think the trade deadline and NBA Draft is more fun than 99% of the playoff games. The Finals were so boring. 3 after 3. Just bad basketball. I only watch the Pistons and "Inside the NBA" clips.. I had a site where I'd watch the last minute of other NBA games, but I just read the scores. That last minute would take forever if it was close with the refs constantly trying to get TV time, especially Billy Kennedy.