From 14-68 to No. 1 Seed: Detroit's Rebuild Is the Best Story in Basketball

The answers, as of 2025-26, are all yes. Duren is averaging 19.5 points and 10.6 rebounds per game, shooting 64.2% from the field [2]. He made his first All-Star team this February. In the game that clinched the division, he went for 31 points on 12-of-13 shooting. That's not a guy who "does his job" — that's a guy who took over [1].

What makes Duren's development special isn't just the stats. It's the process behind them. The Ringer's recent profile revealed he sought out Cade Cunningham the same way Julian Edelman sought out Tom Brady — wanting to build chemistry before the games even started, wanting to understand his point guard as a person before trusting him in crunch time. That kind of intentional buy-in doesn't show up in a box score. But it shows up in wins [3].

I kind of took that as like, 'Man, this is my point guard.' And hopefully, this is my point guard for the rest of my career. So I want to start to build some chemistry, go get some work in with him, just go be around him.

— Jalen Duren, The Ringer

Cade Cunningham Is the Engine

Jalen Duren gets the love because his arc is the better story. But none of this happens without Cade Cunningham.

The guy is averaging 24.5 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 9.9 assists per game this season [2]. He's the connective tissue on both ends — the player who makes everything Detroit runs actually work. When Cunningham drives, he either finishes or finds Duren rolling off the pick-and-roll for a layup nobody can stop. When he pulls up, teams have to respect it. When he facilitates, it unlocks the entire offense.

Cunningham went through his own version of Detroit's larger journey. He dealt with injury-shortened seasons. He was patient when patience felt pointless. Now, in his fifth year, he's the engine of the #1 seed in the East — and he looks like he belongs there.

How They Actually Did It

Here's what the Pistons didn't do: they didn't trade away their future for a 30-year-old star to "accelerate the rebuild." They didn't panic. They didn't mortgage three first-rounders for a rental.

What GM Trajan Langdon and coach J.B. Bickerstaff did was build a defensive identity and stick with it. The Pistons run what they've started calling "Metro Defense" — a scheme built on length, switching versatility, and collapsing the paint. Ausar Thompson and Ron Holland II are the wing defenders who make it functional. Duren anchors it from the back [4].

Offensively, the system is built around getting Cunningham into advantage situations. Simple in concept. Brutally hard to stop when you have a center shooting 64% on pick-and-roll dives and a wing rotation that can execute. Bickerstaff's second-year improvement track record — consistent jumps of 18-22 wins everywhere he's coached — is playing out exactly as projected, just faster [4].

The Pistons also got important contributions from unexpected places. Two-way contract guard Daniss Jenkins started at point guard in the division clincher and dropped 21 points and 5 assists. Duncan Robinson — the veteran spacing piece — hit five threes. This isn't a two-man band; it's a roster of developed players who know their roles and execute them [1].

The Anti-Superteam

There's a broader story here worth naming: the NBA has superteam fatigue right now. The Knicks assembled four stars and are playing like a disorganized mess heading into the playoffs. The Warriors ran it back one too many times with Curry on the wrong side of 37. Multiple expensive rosters are underperforming expectations built on name recognition.

Detroit is the counter-narrative. They're proof that development, patience, and a coherent system can win just as much as raw star power. When the Pistons run their half-court sets, it doesn't look like four guys waiting for Karl-Anthony Towns to do something. It looks like basketball — reads, counters, execution, trust [3].

Bickerstaff has said repeatedly that what separates good teams from great ones is whether players understand why they're doing what they're doing, not just what. Detroit's players understand why. You can see it in how quickly they rotate. In how Duren talked about buying into Cunningham's vision before the season started.

If I'm being honest, this is what I envisioned.

— Jalen Duren, to The Ringer

What Happens Now

The #1 seed means home court throughout the Eastern Conference playoffs. It means Detroit doesn't have to go to Boston or Cleveland or anywhere else first. Everybody comes to Little Caesars Arena.

That matters. This team is 30-9 at home this season [1]. They're comfortable, they're loud, and they've been battle-tested. The question the playoffs will answer is whether Detroit can go seven games against an elite opponent — whether Duren and Cunningham can carry the load through a full series when the other team has had two weeks to game plan.

I think they can. The way this roster is built, with multiple guys who can hurt you and a defensive scheme that makes offense genuinely hard, is exactly what playoff basketball demands. The Pistons don't need to score 115 to win. They can win 98-94 and feel completely in control. That's a different kind of scary.

If Detroit makes a deep run — and I think they will — it'll be one of the best stories in NBA history. A franchise that was unwatchable for a decade, back in the conference finals, having rebuilt the right way while everyone else was trying to shortcut their way to a ring.

"Goin' to Work" is back. Detroit earned it.