The , for the fifth straight season, are playing for lottery odds. There is plenty of young talent in Detroit, but a lack of leadership and spacing has led to an eighth season in a row without a winning record. The , the emergence of , and the in the 2023 have given Detroit some direction, but they are unable to cobble together wins this year. Lost in the fold is rookie Marcus Sasser, who has quietly been having a solid campaign for the Pistons. Drafted 25th overall by the and traded on draft night to the Pistons, Sasser's grit and hustle would have been equally at home in Memphis as he is in the Motor City. The Pistons dropped their 65th loss of the season on Saturday night to the , squandering a 15-point fourth-quarter lead, but Sasser was one of the better players on the floor throughout the game. The rookie scored 18 points after going one-for-five in the previous game. "I just told him to go play and be Sass. We had a really cool discussion with him before the game, I just wanted to see him go out there and compete. I said, 'If you're going to make a mistake make a hard one, don't be passive.' He was not playing at the level that I think he needed to play from an energy, just a toughness, grit, get-after-it. We need him to eat rocks when he's on the floor, and I thought he did that." - Monty Williams. Sasser is a promising bench spark plug for the Pistons, and as they get better over the offseason and into next year, expect his stock to rise in Michigan. Sasser Plays Pistons'
basketball The Pistons have had two great eras. The Bad Boys of the 1980s and '90s played in-your-face, physical, often violent basketball, and the Going to Work Pistons embodied the working-class spirit of Detroit by emphasizing defense and playing team-first basketball, but they didn't mind getting down and dirty when needed. The current iteration of the Pistons lacks any form of identity, and the modern
NBA doesn't lend itself well to physicality. Marcus Sasser could be the ideal combination of what made the previous iterations of Detroit Basketball great while fitting into the modern game. Marcus Sasser's Rookie Season Stats PPG 7.5 10.4 APG 3.2 4.6 RPG 1.7 2.1 FG% 42.6% 36.6% 3PT% 37.6% 27.7% While most fans have likely tuned out the Pistons this season (why wouldn't they!), Sasser has emerged as an outside scorer who can defend well for a rookie on the perimeter. His grit is reminiscent of for their two-way efforts, and while he is unlikely to ever be the centerpiece of a really good team, he will be an important piece of Detroit's rebuild. When the All-Rookie teams are named, don't be shocked if Sasser is left off the second team, but expect him to take it in stride and use it as motivation as the Pistons' .