Dear Pistons,
Dear Pistons,
What the fuck? Seriously. What the fuck?
I’ve been a fan of this team since I was 7 years old during the 02-03 season. I saw this team reach the conference finals 6 straight times while winning a title. Then I lived through the dark days of Ben Gordon, Charlie Villanueva and then Josh Smith. Do you know why I could live with those days even though they sucked? No part of those teams gave me hope. Not one of those teams did I look at and say “You know what? This team can do something. This team can be something special”.
Fast forward to last year – This team ended its long playoff drought by going 44-38 in the regular season. Next they gave the eventual champs a fight in the first round of the playoffs.
Fast forward again to this season – Almost the same exact team PLUS two great new bench players - which was really the only issue last season - comes back with another year of experience. In a perfect world, that should result in a better record than last season + hopefully some playoff wins. I know it’s not a perfect world, and I could live with a bit less than that. I can live with a team not completely meeting expectations, especially after our leading scorer/floor leader missed the first 21 games.
Here’s what I can’t live with: A COMPLETE lack of heart, effort & energy on almost every single night now. It’s honestly disgusting. This team is oozing with talent, yet less than half the team decides it wants to play every night.
I’m looking right at you, Andre. You could literally be the best center in the entire fucking NBA, every single night if you decided to show some heart on a nightly basis. You could literally get 20 points and 20 rebounds any fucking night if you decided to play with energy on a nightly basis. I don’t care about the free throws honestly. I don’t care if you’re not blocking every shot that comes your way. I care about the way you play wearing our beloved Pistons uniforms, and you could be the fucking man if you wanted to be. We need you.
Everyone else, I'm looking right at you too. It’s not just one or two players playing like they don’t want to play. We – and I speak for the entire Pistons fan base – are begging you to show us that you care. We’re begging you to play like you want to play. If not for you, then do it for us. Do it for each other.
You are a team that I truly believe could compete with the best of them every single night if you wanted to. If you don’t want it, then take off your Pistons jersey and don’t show up to the arena because we don’t want to see you. If you do want it, show it, and you’ll have our support through it all. This team can still be something special. Please.
Sincerely,
Jordan Lederman & Pistons fans everywhere
