How the hiatus affects all 30 NBA teams

Detroit Pistons: Allowing a reprieve from all the losing

The Detroit Pistons‘ 1-12 skid leading into the NBA hiatus wasn’t fully indicative of the trust this radically reshaped team had put into head coach Dwane Casey. Christian Wood was thriving, Derrick Rose and the Pistons’ other veterans were setting the example for the youngsters, and a completely new-look team was competing every night despite being consistently outmatched in terms of pure talent. They had found positivity in a bad situation.

However, even with the right mindset, it can be difficult to build a new culture and actually believe in it when the losses pile up that fast. Detroit’s inability to win games since losing Andre Drummond, Reggie Jackson and Markieff Morris was no secret, and even with five of those 12 losses coming by six points or fewer, it had fallen to 14th in the conference standings.

Wood has coronavirus, Blake Griffin needs as much time to recuperate as possible and the Pistons could use an extended break to reset and come back with a renewed vigor for basketball. This is still a bad team, but getting a reprieve from the constant losing could provide an opening for a more positive conclusion to a rough season.