Pistons approaching rare winless month

The Detroit Pistons have one more chance to get a win in November when they play the New York Knicks Thursday night at Madison Square Garden. The Pistons have lost 15 straight games and all 14 games they've played in the month of November. If they can't steal a victory in New York, they'll complete the first winless month in the NBA since 2015 and only the 13th winless month in NBA history.

Detroit is a young team. The eight Pistons who've played the most minutes in 2023-24 are all 24 or younger, and six of them are 22 or younger. While the team brought in veterans to help the young core, the injured Monte Morris and Bojan Bogdanovic haven't played yet this season, and Joe Harris has played only 98 minutes.

It's obvious why the team is struggling. The Pistons foul at the highest rate and turn the ball over at the second-highest rate in the league, while they don't force turnovers or get fouled themselves — they're 29th in both those categories. The team has too many centers and very little three-point shooting, 29th in three-pointers made.

The last team to go winless for a calendar month was the Philadelphia 76ers, who lost every game in November 2015, part of a 28-game losing streak that spanned two seasons. Two seasons earlier, Philadelphia went 0-11 in February 2014 but avoided an unprecedented two straight winless months by snapping its 26-game losing streak on March 29.

In the lockout-shortened 2011-12 season, the Charlotte Hornets went 0-16 in April as they closed the season by losing 23 straight games on their way to a historically bad 7-59 record.

The difference between these teams and the Pistons is that the Pistons are actually trying. Those bleak Sixers years were part of "The Process," where Philadelphia's front office gutted the roster and intentionally lost in hopes of getting high draft picks. The Hornets were tanking in hopes of getting the No. 1 pick in the 2012 draft, who turned out to be Anthony Davis — they ended up picking second.

It's much bleaker in the Motor City. Even with new head coach Monty Williams, the No. 1 pick from the 2021 draft in Cade Cunningham and eight recent lottery picks on their roster, the Pistons can't win.

Things will likely get better when Bogdanovic returns, but Morris will be out at least another six to eight weeks. The Pistons are going to have to figure things out internally, or they could be looking at a winless December as well.