Despite all of their injuries, the Detroit Pistons have gotten out to a 16-4 start that has forced the pundits to recalibrate their predictions.
Man of the national outlets actually picked the Pistons to take a small step back or spin their wheels this season, citing the loss of key veterans Malik Beasley, Tim Hardaway Jr., and Dennis Schroder as the main reason.
This was the case with Bleacher Report, which predicted the Pistons would win 45 games, one more than they won last season. In a recent article, they bumped that up by eight wins to 53, a big leap that would have made the Pistons the 3-seed last season.