Pistons Ready To Change Team's Image: 'This Is Our Time'
By Dan Jenkins
@DanTJenkins
AUBURN HILLS (CBS Detroit) -- The Detroit Pistons are currently suffering the longest playoff drought in franchise history.
The last time the team hosted a playoff game, Antonio McDyess' 26 points and 10 rebounds couldn't keep the Pistons from being swept out of the first round against the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2009.
Since then, the team has seen a host of personnel changes -- five different head coaches -- and a transfer of ownership.
The team has taken a backseat to the three other professional sports teams in Detroit, placing in the bottom-five in attendance among the 30 NBA teams in each of the past four seasons.
The players know that winning will get fans back out to the Palace of Auburn Hills and are eager to make the team's image in the city -- and the league -- a positive one again.
"I hate losing -- I can't stand it, it's the worst feeling," center Andre Drummond said at media day on Monday. "People laughing at our team -- that's not a good feeling. I want to rub it in somebody's face that we're a good team."
There's a lot of attention on the 2012 first-round draft pick this season, who has become one of the best rebounders in the league over the past few years. He won the Rising Stars Challenge MVP award and a FIBA Gold Medal in 2014, but wanted to stress that team success is the only thing he focuses on once the season starts.
"My personal goal is winning first," Drummond said. "I'm going to worry about winning first and let the other individual things come and take care of themselves. My main focus now is to just take care of the winning part of basketball."
The team will be looking for guidance from some of the veterans on the team -- notably Steve Blake and Joel Anthony. The Pistons are one of the youngest teams in the league, boasting eight players 25 or younger.
"We have a very young team, but we have a very mature team," 22-year-old Drummond said. "I think we'll be pretty good this year."
The Pistons have no reason to lack confidence going into the new year. After their abysmal 5-23 start last season, the team finished with a .500 record and their most wins in a season since 2009 (32), the last time they made the playoffs.
"I've seen the good, bad, ugly -- I've seen it all," Drummond said. "The fans have still stuck around and have been there for us on a nightly basis. I think here, it just feels like home for me."
Drummond wouldn't talk about a potential contract extension -- as his rookie deal expires at the end of the season -- but continued to preach a "team-first" philosophy.
"Now is the time for us to really do what we set out of do every year. We say we're going to do one thing -- one thing gets to another and we don't do it," Drummond said. "I feel like now, this is our time, we're on the rise and we're going to do it."
