NBA

As the Detroit Pistons continue to distract everyone from the Spurs continuing to set their very own franchise worst losing streak, the Pistons have surpassed their own franchise worst losing streak of 21 games with the 22nd straight loss of the season. For context, the Pistons previous record was set across 2 seasons: 14 losses in 1979/80 and 7 in 1980/81.

Not counting losing streaks stretched across 2 seasons, there are only 5 teams with a longer losing streak.

Those teams are:

• The Process 76ers first season (2013-14) with 26 straight losses (Finished 19-63, 2nd worst record in the league for the season)

• The Post-LeBron Cleveland Cavaliers (2010-11) with 26 straight losses (Finished 19-63, 2nd worst record in the league for the season)

• The Vancouver Grizzlies inaugural season (1995-96) with 23 straight losses (Finished 15-67, worst record in the league for the season)

• The infamous 7-59 Charlotte Bobcats (2011-12) with 23 straight losses (Finished...well I already said it)

• The Tony Battie Denver Nuggets (1997-98) with 23 straight losses (Finished Finished 11-71, worst record in the league for the season)

Counting records across multiple seasons, there are 7 teams with worse overall losing streaks. The two teams with a worse losing streak not mentioned are the following:

• The Cleveland Cavaliers from the end of 1981-82 (Lost 19 straight, finished 15-67) to the opening of 1982-83 (Lost 5 straight, finished 23-59, 3rd worst record in the league for the season)

• The Process 76ers from the end of 2014-15 (Lost 10, finished 18–64, 3rd worst record in the league for the season) to 2015-16 (Lost 18, finished 10–72, worst record in the league for the season)

The Detroit Pistons next 7 games are:

Bucks - Dec 16

Hawks - Dec 18

Jazz - Dec 21

Nets - Dec 23

Nets - Boxing Day

Celtics - Dec 28

Raptors - Dec 30

If they lose their next 7 games, they will have not only lost every game in December for their second winless month, but they will actively hold the worst losing streak in NBA history.

Is there a benefit to making the divisions matter?

They matter a lot more in baseball and football. Hockey folks will have to tell me how much they matter in that sport, but I know they exist there too.

The NBA has divisions that no one cares about. What’s the point? Should they make them matter, or should they remove them? What is it about basketball that is inherently different? They also have 30 teams in the same-ish cities.

I’m sure there’s a schedule implication, like in the other sports, but it may just not be noticeable because there’s so many games. You notice it in baseball because it’s games of 3-4 at a time.

1. Joel Embiid (Cameroon)

2. Luka Doncic (Slovenia)

3. Giannis Antetokounmpo (Greece)

4. Shai Gilgeous Alexander (Canada)

5. Kevin Durant (Washington D.C.)

So tonight we've seen 2 losing streaks come to an end and one reach a record new level of misery. Detroit now has a 22 game losing streak. Spurs snapped an 18 game streak, and the Wizards snapped a 6 game streak that would've been 15 games were it not for the Pistons.

I don't want to downplay how bad these teams are, they are exceptionally trash. But I think it needs to be acknowledged that part of part of the reason for this is parity in the league. It might seem counter-intuitive that parity amongst teams produces historic losing streaks, but this is what we should expect.

When the league is very even, with a lot of teams around the middle of the pack, it gives rebuilding teams very little chance to play against other bad teams. They can go weeks only playing against teams that are either rock-solid or true contenders.

Take Detroit in the Eastern conference. Whilst I agree they should be finding wins somewhere, it's hard to figure what teams they "should" be competitive with: Orlando is now a defensive force, Pacers are an offensive force, and both are currently in the top 6. Nets are the archetype of a "plucky" team that out-performs their on-paper roster. Hawks are basically the same roster that made a conference final a few years ago. The Bulls and Raptors don't have great records, but both have way more talent on their rosters than Detroit. So that just leaves the Wizards & Hornets who are on a similar level (and the Hornets are only there because of injuries).

Aside from those 2 any other wins in the East would feel like a pretty major upset. There just aren't many 'easy-win' teams for them to go up against. The same can be said about the Spurs. Of their 18 games, only the loss to Memphis feels like a game against another struggling team.

Again, this isn't to downplay how bad these 3 teams are. The Pistons can't score, the Wizards can't defend, and the Spurs look like a team of raw prospects that are still learning to play. But the losing streaks are made a lot worse by how much the talent is dispersed around the league, and how the stars of the league aren't missing as many games.

TLDR: More parity equals longer losing streaks for the few bad teams.

Ties Ben Gordon (2x) and Latrell Sprewell

We’ve had a lot of NBA players wear the mask throughout history, but if you could only pick five of them any position, what would be your top five?

They just scored 39 points in the half against the 76ers. With a 2-22 record

They have a No. 1 pick that can not shoot, can not defend, and can indeed turnover a lot(first triple-digit TOs player this season). Cade Cunningham is at the bottom of every advanced or traditional metric. He can not even be an empty stat player in the worst team

They don't have many picks

Their best prospect is a very raw defense talent, Ausar Thompson, who can not shoot either.

They only have one good veteran Bojan Bogdanovic, which is also their only valuable trading asset.

They traded their asset for 2 no.2 picks and busted center.

They hired the second expensive coach last off-season, who apparently does not even want to be here.

And unlike the other bottom teams like the Spurrs or Wizards, they are not trying to tank. They are trying to win.

28 straight losses is not the end. it is just a passing point.

We are witnessing the worst NBA season in history. And they have no way to turn it around.

on the bright side

Tomorrow

this team will face a raging Greek demigod who just scored his career high and chased a ball into an opponent's locker room.

Ended up 3-4x last night and around 4x today. No video tonight, completely drained. We got a call of duty slate, csgo slate, nfl tomorrow and nba tomorrow for me so been a busy busy day. If i get energy later tonight ill make a video but if not as always in these situations ill have something up for you guys. Whether it's priv video or a write-up or a regular video if i feel like it will do something. Hopefully you all had a good night tonight <3

If discord is something you are interested in where i have in-depth content, player pools for cash/gpps, cores and much more ill have a link below.

Edit:

Almost a week after the IST finale, both the Indiana Pacers and Los Angeles Lakers just lost to two of the worst teams in the NBA in the Washington Wizards and San Antonio Spurs who both held a record of 3-20 before tonight

How about that huh lol. Two teams that looked good during the tournament but lately have been struggling, more so the Pacers. They have not looked the same after talking all the shit.

After getting back in rhythm from his ankle surgery this past offseason, Julius Randle is now shooting 46% from the field, as opposed to the 45.9% (2022-2023) and 45.6% (2020-2021) he shot from the field in his previous two All-Star / All-NBA seasons.