Detroit Pistons

Today at 07:51 AM

The midway mark of the NBA season is upon us, and that means initial impressions can start turning into outright opinions.

Although some things are exactly what we thought they’d be — looking at you, always-middling Chicago Bulls — there have been plenty of unexpected discoveries.

Some good, some bad and plenty worth diving into.

Armed with a meaningful sample size, here are some of the most notable surprises and disappointments halfway through the season.

Biggest surprise: A new era of Pistons basketball

Detroit sports teams are having a moment. The Lions are legitimate Super Bowl contenders, the Red Wings are riding high and the Pistons, yeah those Pistons, are in a spot they haven’t been in for over half a decade.

And while playing perfectly middle-of-the-pack hoops may not sound all that impressive — one game above .500 while ranked 15th on offence and 16th on defence — it’s a marked improvement over what we’re used to seeing from them.

For context, last season’s first-half-of-the-schedule Pistons were 4-37 and had set the single-season record for consecutive losses at 28. Yet here they are, one year later, above .500 this late into a season for the first time in seven years and on pace to win 42 games (which would be their most since 2015-16).

And even if they don’t match or exceed that win total, their 21 wins halfway through the season have already eclipsed their win total from each of their last five seasons … talk about a glow-up.

Swapping Monty Williams with J.B. Bickerstaff as head coach has invigorated Detroit’s youngsters while adding veterans Tobias Harris, Malik Beasley and Tim Hardaway Jr. has provided structure to a previously clunky roster.

All the while, franchise cornerstone Cade Cunningham has leapt forward. The 2021 No. 1 overall pick is honing in on his first All-Star nod with career-high averages of 24.5 points, 9.4 assists (third in NBA) and 6.6 rebounds while shooting 38 per cent from beyond the arc.

The Pistons are squarely in the mix for a post-season birth, sitting ninth in the Eastern Conference, just 1.5 games back of fifth. They are primed to make the playoffs for the first time since 2018-19, when Blake Griffin was leading the way.

Oh, yeah, they’re also riding hot. Detroit is 7-2 in January, winning 11 of its last 15. Making sure the league knows that they’re not just turning the corner, they’re swerving and bending it.

Other notable surprises

Russell Westbrook’s mile-high renaissance: It’s not often an aging star — especially one who has reached peaks such as MVP — figures out how to be an impactful role player at the tail-end of their career. Most can’t struggle to scale down, eventually fading away ungracefully.

Up until this year, following inconsequential stints with his hometown L.A. Lakers and Clippers over the last three seasons, Westbrook’s end-of-career arc looked to be right on schedule. Yet he’s flipped that script entirely through the first half of this season.

The 36-year-old has helped the Nuggets find their footing after a slow start and has evolved into an ultimate Swiss Army knife for three-time MVP Nikola Jokic to carve up opponents with. Westbrook is far removed from the player who had a usage rate in the high-30-per-cent range for most of his career. Instead, he’s working off the ball, cutting constantly into passing lanes for Jokic to find him. When the duo shares the floor, Denver has a plus-12.87 net rating versus minus-1.59 when they sit.

The Nuggets boast the league’s fourth-ranked offence this season and much of that has to do with the fact they score 125.4 points per 100 possessions when Westbrook and Jokic are out there together. Although the nine-time All-Star’s numbers aren’t gaudy, he’s been reasonably efficient on offence and engaged on defence.

Denver’s star may be nicknamed “Joker,” but he’s undeniably the team’s Batman and he may have found his new Robin.

Rockets ahead of schedule: Many probably expected the Rockets to take a step forward this season. But I doubt many expected it to be this large.

Following a 41-41 record in Ime Udoka’s first season at the helm, Houston is on pace to win 57 games, its most in seven years. The 2023-24 Rockets, despite a late push for the Play-In, missed out as they finished 11th in the West. Fast forward to this year’s midway mark, and Houston has catapulted up the standings all the way to second and appears locked for a post-season birth for the first time since James Harden left four years ago.

The Rockets have been stellar on defence all season — sporting the third-best defensive rating in the NBA (107.5), allowing the third-lowest opponent field-goal percentage (44.9) and fourth-fewest points per game (107.4) — and it’s largely why they’ve been so stout. But their offence has caught up as of late.

Houston was pedestrian on that side of the ball through November (21st in NBA) and December (13th) but is currently topping the charts with a 121.2 offensive rating in January. A lot of that credit goes to a scorching-hot Jalen Green. In the Rockets’ last five games, he’s averaging 32.0 points (second-most through that span), shooting 55.7 per cent from the field while knocking down 5.2 triples a game on a 55.3 per cent clip.

If Green, along with fellow ascending star Alperen Sengun, can keep the offence clicking to pair with its vaunted defence, Houston will be ready to make some noise come playoff time.

Recent surprises

Kings post-Mike Brown: Before Dec. 28, Sacramento would most certainly have been in the biggest disappointments portion. After a 13-18 start wiped away all the aura from the “light the beam” run two seasons ago, the Kings looked incredibly pedestrian. But the unexpected decision to move on from Brown — two years removed from a Coach of the Year nod and fresh off signing an extension — seemingly worked. Under interim head coach Doug Christie, the Kings have gone 8-2, even rattling off a seven-game win streak. Changes like sliding Domantas Sabonis around more on defence and putting Keon Ellis firmly back in the rotation have the Kings sporting a top-10 net rating through 2025. The big question is if it’s just the new coach bump or something more sustainable.

Pacers defence: When Indiana started 16-18 through the first three months of the season, last year’s run to the Eastern Conference was looking more and more like lightning in a bottle. That No. 2-ranked offence from a season ago was M.I.A. and the assumption was it’d have to return for things to settle down. And although the Pacers have figured it out — now 7-1 in January and 9-2 in their last 11 — their defence has been the major catalyst. Indiana has had the No. 3-ranked defence over its last 10 games, and it’s lifted their offence back to elite form as well.

Biggest disappointment: Philly’s big three

Entering the summer, Paul George was undoubtedly the top free agent on the market. Coming off his healthiest campaign since 2018-19 and notching a sixth-career All-Star nod, the 76ers paid a premium to nab the 34-year-old and pair him with Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey.

Yet after signing him to a four-year, $212-million maximum contract, Philadelphia has yet to see much return on their investment.

Through 27 games, George has averaged 17.2 points, 5.9 rebounds and 4.7 assists while being woefully inefficient. That’s his lowest scoring mark since 2012-13 and his 42.3 per cent field goal rate is the third-worst of his career. “Philly P” has eclipsed the 20-point mark just eight times this season, a shadow of the career 20.7-point-per-game scorer throughout his first 14 years in the league.

Some of that has been injuries, to be somewhat fair, considering George has missed 11 games this season. But that just adds to the frustration. Part of why he was such a big acquisition for Philadelphia was so he could take some of the pressure off the seldomly available Embiid — who’s already missed 26 contests — not add more of a burden. And even when George has been available, missing just three of the 76ers’ last 20 games, the results haven’t been good enough (10-10).

Injuries to George, Embiid and Maxey have made the early goings of the All-Star trio a major dud, especially considering they project to account for over 90 per cent of Philly’s cap space under the luxury tax line moving forward. The three have shared the floor for just 192 minutes, a big reason the 76ers are 15-24.

And while George has played better of late, averaging 22.1 points, 6.7 rebounds and 4.7 assists on 58.8 per cent true shooting through January, it’s hardly done anything for the Sixers’ win total as Philly has gone 2-7.

Whether it’s because two All-Stars aren’t enough — with Embiid continuing to miss time, currently at six games in a row — or if it’s because George is “bored” with his role, it’s all been pretty disappointing.

Other notable disappointments

The Warriors trying to have their cake and eat it too: Threading the needle is one of the hardest things to do in the NBA. Trying to be competitive now, while also maintaining a positive outlook isn’t a challenge many overcome. Just ask Golden State.

After winning a title in 2021-22, the Warriors are on pace for a third-straight sub-50-win season. And unlike the injury-riddled campaigns wedged between their last two Finals runs, a lack of health hasn’t been their issue of late.

It’s been this desire to shepherd a new core while also trying to keep the old guard around. But the reality is, their youngsters haven’t contributed consistently. And instead of dangling one, or some, of them to try to acquire a high-impact player to maximize the tail end of a dynastic window, the Warriors are trying not to “mortgage their future,” as Draymond Green described it recently.

Why? Well, according to the four-time champ, “bad teams do that, bad organizations do that. We’re not neither one.”

News flash, Draymond: The Warriors are 20-20, 11th in the West and have erased all the momentum gained from a 12-3 start.

Are we so sure they’re not a bad team?

Team building is nuanced and many teams have run into problems down the road by being short-sighted in the present. But no basketball fan wants to see the twilight of Stephen Curry’s brilliance wasted on yet another middling squad. The two-time MVP is averaging 22.9 points, 5.0 rebounds, 6.2 assists and 1.2 steals. All the while, he’s one of just four players attempting at least 10 threes a game and his 41.6 per cent conversion rate is miles ahead of the others.

Curry is an all-time great still playing at an elite level. He deserves the front office’s full attention.

Timberwolves’ newbies: After a 56-win season and a run to the conference finals two decades in the making, Minnesota’s front office followed that up by dealing away 2015 No. 1 overall pick and fan-favourite seven-foot marksman Karl-Anthony Towns. And, unsurprisingly, the team’s been worse off for it.

Last year’s third-seeded Timberwolves are eighth with a 21-19 record, on pace for a 13-win decrease. But hey, at least their books look clearer!

Minnesota’s slow crawl hasn’t just been due to what they lost in Towns, it’s also because of what they “gained” in return from the New York Knicks. While Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo were by no means expected to be world-beating additions, they’ve underwhelmed even by modest standards.

Randle’s 19.5 points per game are his fewest since the 2019-20 season, while his 7.1 rebounds are the lowest of his career. Meanwhile, DiVincenzo is averaging 4.5 fewer points than his breakout campaign last year and his 40 per cent three-point shooting clip is down to 36.9 per cent.

In a team context, all that has added up to the offence taking no steps forward — ranked 17th last year and 17th through the first half of this season — while Minnesota’s league-leading defence from a season ago is now seventh.

Recent disappointments

Jimmy Butler-Miami Heat drama: I’m not here to pick a side between player and organization, but it’s clear neither is happy with the current state of affairs. It seems like a new report, possibly leaked from either side, is coming out every other day as if to try to leverage things in their favour. Whether Butler deserves to have his trade demand acquiesced or the Heat feel justified in suspending him to do things on their terms hardly feels relevant anymore. Neither is getting any meaningful closure from a relationship that’s clearly too fractured to repair. As things stand, “Heat Culture” is very quickly losing any meaning.

Celtics’ midseason malaise: The defending champions appear to be falling into the trap of “we can flip a switch come playoff time.” But with six different champs in six consecutive seasons, that plan doesn’t work all that often these days. Boston is still a top-tier contender at 28-12 but it doesn’t appear as infallible as last year’s 64-win squad — especially at home, where the Celtics have already lost seven games, three more than all of last season. They’re 12-9 since the start of December, and in 2025 they rank middle of the pack on both ends of the floor. All the while, the Celtics’ league-altering three-point chucking style doesn’t look all that great when they can’t hit the broad side of a barn. In January, they still lead the NBA with 44.0 three-point attempts per game but rank fourth-worst in percentage (33.1).