PISTONS 101

 Falling to Houston for the second time in seven games, the Pistons are 0-7 on the year and have become the doormat of this early NBA season. A loss to the Thunder was expected, but in the first seven games the Pistons have served as medicine for this young season's ailing teams. The Pistons were each of the Suns, Lakers and Nuggets first victories and their loss to Houston on Saturday night helped the Rockets get back on track after a three game losing streak. Poor defense and streaky scoring has made Lawrence Frank's team the doormat of the NBA, but as Frank's history shows 'winless' has to have the feeling of deja vu'. 

 

Lawrence Frank's first stint as a head coach came with the New Jersey Nets, hired in the interim during the 2003-04 season. Frank was successful with the Nets and coached the team until the early parts of the 2009 season. Like this year's Pistons team, the 2009-10 Nets had a mix of youth and 'lower-tier' experience and started 0-7 as well. The Nets went onto 0-16 before Frank was fired, and while Pistons owner Frank Gores has called this season a process, Gores has also said  playoffs are a realistic possibility in his mind. The Pistons take on the Thunder on Monday night, a game that will most likely lower the Pistons to 0-8 and their worst start in franchise history. While Gores has preached both patience and high standards, a franchise worst with shades of Frank's 2009-10 Nets team would no doubt test both of Gores's patience and high standard message. 

 

From what Pistons fans have seen so far, Gores is not a 'knee-jerk' style owner. But after watching the team limp through the first half of last season already, similar early season struggles this year might cause Gores to make a change. 0-7 is not the same as 0-16, but if the losing continues then it's likely that Lawrence Frank will be remembered for a deja vu firing and that Franks Gores will be known as an owner that acts on his high-standard words.