The Detroit Pistons just put a bow on a campaign that saw 17 wins over a six-month span. That’s three wins per month — if you’re willing to fudge the numbers and be generous.

Some would say that’s unacceptable. Young team. Old team. Rebuilding. Championship contender. Whatever. It doesn’t matter. The average fan doesn’t want to hear the reasons why. Selling hope amid such daily disappointment is harder than selling water to a whale.

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If you take a look at Detroit, squint, move some things around and open your mind, this season wasn’t as hopeless as the record suggests. Was it a success? It depends on who you ask.

No matter how you slice it, dice it and roll it up, the Pistons were rebuilding this season. They leaned even more into it when Cade Cunningham went down for the season in November. Any hopes of being a surprise team were put down when the 2021 No. 1 pick attended to a lingering shin issue. Detroit then pivoted, experimented and unleashed its players into a world that maybe they weren’t yet ready for but would be with time and experience.

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2023 NBA Mock Draft: Can Victor Wembanyama save the Pistons?

Yes, the Pistons came out of it with 17 wins, a drag of a season and the best odds at landing French phenom Victor Wembanyama in the 2023 NBA Draft. But, more importantly, they might not have to rely on the luck of the lotto to get to where they want to go because Detroit’s two rookies, Jaden Ivey and Jalen Duren, routinely flashed All-Star potential.

And don’t forget about Cunningham.

When is the last time this organization could say it realistically could have three potential All-Stars under the age of 22? I’ll wait. It’s hard to call this season a complete failure because of the possibilities.

Rebuilds are about acquiring talent. The Pistons, amid the losing, have done that.

“Jaden and Jalen … I’ve seen a huge improvement in them as far as their comfort level and poise,” Cunningham said Monday about what he observed being sidelined. “They continued to get better throughout the year. I’m definitely excited about them.”

Ivey, who was the No. 5 pick in last year’s draft, got better each month. He was almost unrecognizable by the start of April. The blistering-quick guard who would run straight into a brick wall if it were on the court early in his rookie season figured out by the middle of it how to switch gears and be patient. He learned to receive a screen and slither through, be patient, to not always be in a rush and show defenders how much faster he is than them. In a matter of months, Ivey turned 0-100 mph into 0-40 mph then 40-70 mph then 70-100 mph.

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Ivey’s 3-point shooting jumped 5 percent — from an underwhelming 31.4 percent (4.1 attempts per game) to a respectable 36.5 percent (5.3 attempts per game) — from his first 37 games to his final 37 games. To start his career, Ivey had no midrange game. He wanted to, but shots wouldn’t fall, and he ended up attacking the rim more than he should have and being denied by the long arms of the NBA’s giants. By the end of his rookie season, Ivey’s midrange uptick may have been the most impressive thing about him, especially given how far he came.

From the end of October to Dec. 31, Ivey converted on just 32.6 percent of his midrange attempts, per NBA.com, and only 29.9 percent of his nonrestricted area paint shots. From Jan. 1 until the end of the season, those numbers shot up to 48 percent and 34 percent, respectively.

“That’s something I worked on and, going throughout this season, being able to utilize that aspect of my game, knowing when to use it at the right time has really helped me and helped my teammates out a lot,” Ivey said. “Instead of going to the paint and trying to force up a layup every single time, I can kind of pick my spots, when and where, and I think that’s really helped my game out a lot.”

Ivey’s passing is better than most might have imagined coming into his rookie season. It got better when he learned to slow the game down. There are still turnovers … a lot of them. Bad ones too. But they come with good intentions and should be lessened when Cunningham returns to the fold.

Ivey’s response to the extra reps and increased attention by  defenses improved every month. The absence of Cunningham may have been a blessing in disguise for Ivey and his preparedness moving forward.

“He makes something out of nothing,” former Pistons coach Dwane Casey said. “He gets stuck in certain situations and I’m like, ‘Whoa, what is he doing?’ and then all at once he comes out of it like Houdini and makes a play or a shot. That’s a gift and skill he has.

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“When he really masters change in speed, slow to fast, fast to slow and then back to slow again, he’s really going to take off. It’s already accelerated now, but when he does that, it’s going to be really big time for him. He will. It’s just a matter of time.”

Then there’s Jalen Duren, who only for a few more months is still the youngest player in the NBA. Don’t keep telling him that, though. He hates it.

“I never really thought about anyone’s age as that being something they have over me,” Duren said. “I’ve always been like, ‘You got to show me.’ I know I’m young, well, significantly younger than a lot of guys in the league, but I never felt like that made me less of a player than them. I know I still got a lot more room to grow, a lot more I can get better at, but as far as on the court, it’s a mental game. I’m not afraid of anyone. I don’t back down from anyone. It’s basketball. We all play basketball.”

Duren, at 19, played basketball at a high level. It’s laughable now to think that people — including myself — thought there was a chance he’d log time in the G League. The big man dominated stretches of games this season with his offensive rebounding and rim-running.

Duren finished the season with 19 double-double games. Only three teenagers in NBA history had more: Moses Malone, Dwight Howard and LeBron James. Maybe you’ve heard of them. Duren averaged 3.4. offensive rebounds per game, fifth in the entire NBA.

Duren’s post game improved the final month of the season. He became a better screener and rim-runner as the season progressed. Offensively, the template is there for him to have success. He’s already outlined it.

That All-Star upside doesn’t become a real reality, though, until Duren goes to where he is capable of defensively. He’s a freak athlete with long arms. He should be, and will be, more of a shot blocker and deterrent at the rim with more experience. He has the footwork and coordination to guard in space too.

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Next Pistons head coach: Who might replace Dwane Casey in Detroit?

All of the tools are there for him to be an elite defender. He showed them in spurts as a rookie.

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“I feel like throughout the year … what they teach becomes your instincts, if that makes sense, especially on the defensive end,” Duren said. “We practice a lot of different schemes and ways to guard different teams, and it becomes second nature. That becomes your instincts. Early on, there was a lot of different terminology and different things I had to remember, but I tried to stay focus and locked in. You have to do your homework, watch a lot of film, watch guys. I watch a lot of basketball and talk to a lot of coaches. I’m always watching film with the coaches and going over the scouting report. It helped me.”

There aren’t many 17-win teams that feel good about their odds of having three potential All-Stars down the line. That’s even before you factor in the possibility of landing Wembanyama.

This season was a rough watch, night in and night out. I can sympathize with you there. You can turn the channel. I can’t. The excitement of Year 2 Cunningham with Ivey and Duren got so high in the summer that anything short of that — three potential All-Stars and a possible No. 1 pick — was never going to be enough to absorb all of the losing.

But what Ivey and Duren showed in their first seasons was enough. They’re special players. Building blocks. Detroit should like its chances going forward with or without Wembanyama. Ivey and Duren emerged as structurally sound pillars.

A lost season, in reality, wasn’t so lost.

(Photo of Jaden Ivey: Kamil Krzaczynski / USA Today)

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