I’m looking at the Pistons roster right now, I’m taking a long, critical look at it, and you know what I see? A whole lot of nothing. Every fanbase needs hope, even just a little bit of it, but hope is in short supply. It would be easier to list the players that are offering even that tiny glimmer of hope, but to pad things out, I’ll detail some of the players that aren’t:
-Blake Griffin, totally regressing after injuries started piling up and looking even less athletic than ever believed possible.
-Andre Drummond, currently the subject of nigh-innumerable trade rumors, and even he wasn’t, he puts up the emptiest bigman stats possible while looking wholly uninterested in playing basketball.
-Luke Kennard, probably has reached something approximating his ceiling already, which is a good player with nice shooting and some playmaking ability, but nothing that’s going to lead a team anywhere other than the lottery.
-Derrick Rose, still showing flashes of his MVP days, but there’s no way that he can keep it up long enough to still be relevant when the Pistons eventually become good again. For now, a good tank commander, but not the kind that can offer any sort of hope.
-Thon Maker, a literal black hole who sucks all hope out of anything in proximity to his badness.
-Khyri Thomas, who apparently the Pistons are not interested in really developing, and hasn’t shown much to be very optimistic about his NBA prospects anyway.
And that’s just a sampling. In contrast, here are the players who DO offer some hope to the withered and desperate Detroit fans:
-Sekou Doumbouya, so young that he could literally become anything. Next Kawhi Leonard? Sure. Next Michael Jordan? Why not. Next Trevor Ariza? That wouldn’t be ideal, but you know, that doesn’t sound so bad either. His enigmatic-ness means that fans can pin all their hopes on him, and their dreams of becoming an organically-grown playoff team brimming with young talent start with him. As pathetic as that may be.
-Christian Wood, he was tutored by Giannis Antetokounmpo so, you know. It could happen.