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The NBA released the schedules for all 30 teams for the 2016-2017 season on Thursday. The Pistons will open up their season on Oct. 26 at the Toronto Raptors. That should be a good matchup between two of the teams who expect to compete for the top spots in the Eastern Conference. The Pistons home opener will be two days later on Oct. 28 against the Orlando Magic. The full schedule can be found here.
One negative of the schedule is still more back-to-backs than many other teams. Plus, they will have one stretch of four games in five nights.
No NBA team will have more than one four games-in-five days this season. Range of back-to-back games reduced and condensed to 14-18 per team
— Marc J. Spears (@MarcJSpearsESPN) August 11, 2016
#Pistons have 17 back to backs and one four in five, so they're still getting fewer breaks than the average NBA team https://t.co/H9ZGmVlHmb
— Keith Langlois (@Keith_Langlois) August 11, 2016
One positive takeaway from the schedule is six nationally televised games for the Pistons. They will have three games that will be broadcast on ESPN as well as three games that will be broadcast on TNT.
#Pistons have three ESPN games: Jan. 13 at Utah, Jan. 18 vs. Hawks, March 8 at Indy.
— NerdOnTw1tter (@Vincent_Ellis56) August 11, 2016
#Pistons get three @NBAonTNT games: Jan. 12 at Golden State, Jan. 30 at Boston, April 10 vs. #Wizards.
— NerdOnTw1tter (@Vincent_Ellis56) August 11, 2016
But yeah... it's still Detroit vs Everybody. Take a look at this breakdown...
Number of national TV appearances for each NBA team, broken down by network. pic.twitter.com/yei2MtWYss
— Yaya Dubin (@JADubin5) August 11, 2016
I guess you can chalk it up to marquee names and big markets, but ESPN and TNT will be shaking their collective heads when they're watching the Bulls and Knicks fight for a playoff spot while Andre Drummond is putting up another 20/20 game for the "surprising" Detroit Pistons.
The Pistons will have their usual early-season west coast roadtrip. That starts on Nov. 7 against the Los Angeles Clippers. It will only last four games and the Pistons will also face the Phoenix Suns, San Antonio Spurs and Denver Nuggets.
The Pistons will not play on Christmas Day, but they will have a star-studded holiday season with games against the Golden State Warriors on Dec. 23 and the Cleveland Cavaliers on Dec. 26.
Last season's schedule favored the Pistons and their playoff push with an 8 game homestand near the conclusion of the season. However, this year, the Pistons will close out the season with 8 of 12 games on the road (Detroit vs. Everybody).
What are your thoughts on the schedule? Do you think the Pistons should have played on Christmas Day or had more nationally televised games? Should they have had less? Do you think this will be an easy or more difficult schedule?