Building for next year and having fans hope for better odds in the draft lottery are situations NBA teams never aspire for in April.
Alas, the Detroit Pistons and host Brooklyn Nets are in that position entering Saturday night’s game.
The Nets come in winners of four their last six games, the latest victory being 115-111 at home over the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday.
Despite the win, Brooklyn (30-47) officially was eliminated from playoff contention following Atlanta’s victory over Detroit on Wednesday.
Still, Nets interim coach Kevin Ollie feels there is plenty to play for over the final five games of the season.
“We are trying to build championship character, and we are trying to build competitive character,” Ollie said. “That’s just taking care of one another and just competing no matter what the outcome is. I don’t worry about the outcome. I worry about figuring it out. That’s what a competitor does.
“No matter if you are in it or you are out of it, it doesn’t matter because you get another opportunity to put on a Brooklyn jersey. That’s all that matters. That’s how we have to play.”
The Nets lately have been led by Cam Thomas, who has been on a scoring tear. Over his last nine games, Thomas is averaging 26.8 points per game.
“Whatever games we got, we are just going to go out and try to win,” Thomas said. “We just want to play as hard as we can and keep creating that culture.”
Detroit (13-64) is the league’s worst team and has long been eliminated from playoff contention.
The Pistons are coming off a 108-90 loss at Memphis on Friday, so it will be the second of back-to-back games when they visit the Nets.
Detroit, which has lost three straight games and 11 of its past 12, is in a stretch in which it is finishing the season by playing six of seven games on the road.
“I don’t care where you are in the season, you can always bring competition,” Pistons coach Monty Williams said. “Collectively, we didn’t have that (Friday).”
Detroit has played its last two games without leading scorer Cade Cunningham, who has sat for knee maintenance. His status against Brooklyn is unclear.
Cunningham had more than 30 points in Detroit’s previous three games prior to him missing the last two.
When Cunningham has missed games this year, Jaden Ivey usually has thrived as the leading ballhandler and scoring option, something that was the case again in the Memphis game.
Ivey scored 31 points in 32 minutes for Detroit.
“Every single one of us in this locker room has go look at ourselves in the mirror and see what we can do better, ” Ivey said.
Brooklyn is 2-1 in the season series against the Pistons this year. The Nets won a set of back-to-back games against Detroit on Dec. 23 (126-115 at home) and Dec. 26 (118-112 at Detroit) before the Pistons earned a 118-112 home win over the Nets on March 7.