The Pistons were swept out of the first round late on Sunday night, just one of two teams to meet that dishonor this season. That disappointing result looks worse considering their foes from Cleveland entered the NBA playoffs in sorry psychological shape, having low-key feuded among themselves and gotten a successful coach (in terms of wins and losses) fired. That meant that the Cavaliers came in with a rookie NBA head coach facing off against one of the masters of the field, but none of that mattered. Detroit didn't win once in four tries.
There's plenty of failure to dwell on for Detroit, from the team's inability to punish Kyrie Irving defensively to poor late-game execution to Andre Drummond's lackluster showing against what should have been an overmatched Cleveland frontline.
That also seems beside the point. For years, the Pistons have wanted nothing more than to be here. Having the opportunity to be miserable in the playoffs is victory enough. That Detroit feels a sting of disappointment this late in April is a sign that longer -- and better -- seasons are on their way.
Not since Chauncey Billups ran the team in 2008 had the Pistons finished with a winning record. Not since that next 2009 season had the Pistons made the playoffs. (They won 39 games and were swept by LeBron James and the Cavaliers.) To put it another way: The franchise saw six straight conference finals series from 2003 through 2008 and this was only Detroit's second playoff series since then. The names of the coaches that trotted out wholly mediocre teams -- Michael Curry, John Kuester, Lawrence Frank, Mo Cheeks -- are mercifully forgotten. Six years of glory, followed by six years of pain until Stan Van Gundy arrived. And lo has he arrived.
It isn't, and should never have been, about this series. Belief that Detroit was equipped to derail the Cavaliers was delusion. Cleveland had three of the four best players going into the series and better depth than most give them credit for. Of course they won! That's no reason for Detroit to be down, or to search out meaningless compliments (most competitive 4-0 sweep ever!). The Pistons lost because they are not as good as the Cleveland Cavaliers. All 13 other East teams can say the exact same thing. There's no shame in it.
What Detroit has in its favor is time. The Pistons are ridiculously young. The team's five playoff starters have an average age of 24. None are older than 26 and Drummond is still 22. Van Gundy stopped the transactional bleeding of draft picks (one he contributed to early on and nearly did again before a trade-deadline deal for Donatas Motiejunas was voided) and Detroit has all of its firsts in upcoming amateur drafts. Free agency won't likely help much due to a lack of cap space, especially once Drummond signs a max deal this summer. But in trading for Tobias Harris at the deadline, the Pistons already made their move.
Between Drummond, Stanley Johnson, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and whoever the team picks in June, the Pistons will have four high-value players 23 or younger. Now it's time to develop the team's young pieces and integrate the parts.
Van Gundy was integral in turning Dwight Howard from an electric phenom into a legitimate superstar in Orlando. His task is to do the same with Drummond, who largely remains a bundle of fast-twitch muscle -- the best fast-twitch in the world, possibly -- with excellent size for the position. This series wasn't entirely great for Drummond, but the Pistons won't care about that if this summer is great for Drummond.
If he takes the lucrative deal Detroit will put on the table at midnight on July 1 and invests himself in gaining passable offensive skills and studying defensive tape, the Pistons won't be worrying about Cleveland next April. They'll be able to avoid the No. 1 seed next time around. (The Pistons should also get a boost once the league abolishes intentional fouling.)
The consequence of being the No. 8 seed is that Detroit had to face a league superpower. Indiana wasn't better than Detroit this season, yet they ended up facing a seemingly fragile Toronto team. The Pacers are all even with the Raptors. But the benefit of being the No. 8 and drawing Cleveland is that no one expected much of the Pistons. This sweep shouldn't sting much, not with the future looking so pretty.
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