Andre Drummond is lit.
The NBA released its 2015-16 schedule on Wednesday, much to the displeasure of the Detroit Pistons big man:
20 back to back games ….. No national televised games….. Cool
— Andre Drummond (@AndreDrummondd) August 12, 2015
Welp.
If it makes Drummond feel better, the Los Angeles Lakers only make 19 nationally televised appearances.
Oh? What’s that? It doesn’t make him feel better? Hmm…
Let’s try this: The Pistons aren’t the only team without a nationally televised tilt on the docket as of now. They have company in the Denver Nuggets and Philadelphia 76ers, each of whom projects to win less than 25 games next season.
Yeah, that’s not going to make Drummond feel better, either. But there’s always a chance the powers that be move things around, as they did last season, when the Lakers and New York Knicks were bounced from national TV because of how crappy they were playing. If the Pistons are good enough, if they’re interesting enough, they could be among the teams that sneak into some spur-of-the-moment pickups.
The Lakers figure to be bad again, though if Kobe Bryant is healthy, they’ll remain a national TV draw. The Dallas Mavericks and Knicks each make seven appearances and could end up being crappy, so maybe Detroit can find hope in that, keeping its fingers crossed.
As for the 20 back-to-backs, well, that’s not really terrible. The NBA reduced the frequency of four games in five nights by more than 60 percent, and the Pistons’ 20 back-to-backs are only slightly above the league’s average, according to USA Today‘s Jeff Zillgitt:
Without extending the season by a week at the start or a week at the end, Silver made a dent in those numbers in an effort to reduce fatigue, wear and tear, including injuries, and increase the level of competition.
-Back-to-backs have been reduced to 17.8 per team for 2015-16, down from 19.3 last season, and no team has more than 20 back-to-backs this season.
-Long-distance back-to-backs have been trimmed from 111 last season to 84 this season; back-to-backs that cross a time zone have also been cut from 194 last season to 160 this season.
-Four games in five days have been reduced to .9 per team for 2015-16, down from 2.3 per team last season.
-The NBA reduced the number of miles traveled per team by 2%.
Turns out those 20 back-to-backs actually would have been above the NBA’s average even last season, so that’s hardly a victory. But the Pistons have bigger fish to fry than the schedule, or their number of national TV appearances. They’re trying to snag a playoff berth for the first time since 2009. If they’re able to emerge from that cluster of fringe postseason teams in the Eastern Conference, they won’t be thinking about the schedule, about this moment. They’ll have actual playoff basketball to look forward to.
Drummond himself, meanwhile, has something to look forward to no matter what, be it before the 2015-16 season or after it: a max contract.
