4. Detroit Pistons

It takes a meticulous process or getting lucky in the NBA Lottery to rebuild a team into being a success. For the Detroit Pistons, neither of those has happened and it has been apparent in the results they’ve achieved. So far, they are off to a 1-4 start to the 2020-21 NBA season.

The current plan for the Pistons is quite confusing to try to understand. Detroit traded away Andre Drummond and appeared ready to rebuild. They have since kept both Blake Griffin and Derrick Rose but let Christian Wood walk in free agency— all to overpay Mason Plumlee.

To the Pistons’ credit, many felt as though Jerami Grant was being overpaid when he received his contract in NBA free agency. So far, he has been the team’s most important offensive threat— averaging 23.0 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 1.4 assists. Josh Jackson has been solid, too. Outside of that, it hasn’t been pretty for the Pistons.

So far, the Pistons’ offense has been among the NBA’s worst— producing just 0.909 points per possession (PPP), landing them the 26th ranking in this category. Knocking down spot-up jumpers has been a real challenge while none of their pick-and-roll ball handling options have been reliable either.

There was much optimism surrounding the potential Killian Hayes brings to the table. He was thought of as being capable of making an immediate impact based on his professional playing experience. Instead, he has looked terrible and that’s not favorable for the Pistons’ long-term outlook.