What’s wrong with the Pistons? It starts with the owner

Pistons owner Tom Gores took questions from media members Friday as his team approached record levels of losing. The Pistons now are one game short of tying the single-season losing streak mark of 26 straight games, which they can tie Saturday night in Brooklyn.

Detroit fans have begun chanting, "Sell the team," which Gores called "ridiculous."

"If you put aside winning, we've made a big difference in the community," Gores told reporters. 

Winning is what fans care about, though, not renovated basketball courts, as nice as that is.

It's not that Gores isn't trying. He signed head coach Monty Williams to a then-record six-year, $78.5 million contract. Gores built a new practice facility and team headquarters in midtown Detroit. He's also spent money on free agents.

But he's now owned the team for 12 years. In 13 seasons as the boss, the team has had a winning record only once and made the playoffs twice, both times as the eight seed, where they haven't won a single playoff game.

Gores might be too hands-on. He reportedly overruled general manager Troy Weaver's choices to make the huge offer to Williams. He spearheaded the disastrous trade for Blake Griffin in 2018, which cost Detroit talent and picks and ended with the Pistons paying him more than $40 million to leave.

While Gores is confident about the team's upcoming cap space and promised "we will make changes," there's no evidence that he is good at making basketball decisions that lead to winning. The fans wanted their owner to answer for all the losing, but the best outcome is that Gores gets less involved, not more hands-on.

He's had 12 years to demonstrate that he isn't good at this. It's time for Gores to let someone else make important decisions in Detroit.