Rip Hamilton on Cade Cunningham and Pistons' woeful start: "Got to get older fast" (Exclusive)

Rip Hamilton is in Manila serving as an NBA global ambassador promoting NBA 3x3 and 'Republika ng NBA Month' but despite the busy schedule, he still monitors his former team, the Detroit Pistons. It has been a tough stretch for the franchise that won three championships as their current team is struggling to make ends meet on the basketball court.

The Pistons had high hopes coming into the 2023-24 season with Cade Cunningham coming back from a season-ending injury as he leads a young core of players featuring Jaden Ivey, Isaiah Stewart, Jalen Duren, Killian Hayes, Marvin Bagley, James Wiseman and rookies, Ausar Thompson and Marcus Sasser.

However, after picking up their second win in their first three games, things went south for Detroit as they were not able to pick up a win in the entire month of November.

Rip Hamilton has been helping the Pistons as a former player whenever he can and pleaded with fans to have patience for the young roster to grow. However, as the season progresses, he thinks that the growth of these young players should be expedited as well to turn things around:

"You got to get older fast," said Rip Hamilton in an interview with Sportskeeda. "In the NBA, it is hard to win when you are young. We got a lot of young guys on our team, we got a young nucleus. And I tell people all the time, we got to be patient. You are not going to win overnight."

Rip Hamilton expresses need to surround Cade Cunningham and young core with the right veterans

Entering the 2023-24 season, the Detroit Pistons made some under-the-radar changes that are a lot to digest. Rip Hamilton believes that with all the new components, it will take some time to find the right mix until the Pistons find their way to be a winning team again:

"You see the high lottery picks, you see Cade Cunningham just came off a serious injury last season and now being back in the fold, new coach, new system, new structure… it will take time," said Hamilton.

The season started with Bojan Bogdanovic sidelined until December and Monte Morris on the injured list until January. Adding to that, shooter Joe Harris played only seven games before getting injured and Alec Burks served time on the injury list as well.

As the injury bug bit all the team's veterans and shooters, the Pistons went into a free fall and struggled to find their rhythm and confidence again. This has been a huge challenge for newly hired coach Monty Williams to find the right mix as he tried out more than eight starting lineups already:

"They are trying to figure out what pieces fit. Trying to put the right veteran guys and kind of showing them the way… I think that is something that is missed, that is really needed especially when you want to bring a winning culture to any organization," said the three-time NBA All-Star.

Rip Hamilton has played for nine seasons for the Detroit Pistons and was the team's top scorer in the 2004 championship run. In 631 games played for the franchise, he averaged 18.4 points, 3.8 assists and 3.4 rebounds.

WATCH: Rip Hamilton's Full Interview In Manila