Including their first-round sweep at the hands of the Bucks that ended Monday night at Little Caesars Arena in a fourth consecutive blowout, the Pistons lost four more games this season than they won.

But the team took meaningful strides forward, as far as owner Tom Gores is concerned.

"We made progress," said Gores, shortly after the Bucks put the finishing touches on a 127-104 win. "But we have to make more progress. ... We had a great stretch in the season where we really were a powerful team.

"I’d say the number one thing I’m happy about as far as progress, we figured out how to get through adversity. To me, that’s a culture."

In terms of the raw results, the Pistons did improve upon last season's win total by two games. And they did fulfill their goal of making it back to the playoffs. That's about it.

As far as the individual goes, Blake Griffin had arguably the best season of his career. Andre Drummond, too. And yet this is where it got the Pistons, dismissed from the playoffs just about the moment they arrived.

Their matchup against the Bucks simply served to show how far they remain from the NBA's elite.

Well, not to Gores.

"You can discuss it however you want, but I would say no. Maybe we’re a few pieces (away)," he said. "We have to do this, we have to do that. We’re just going to regroup."

Gores wouldn't say much about the Pistons' offseason plans, wanting to sit down first with Dwayne Casey and Ed Stefanski and the rest of his front-office staff. Asked whether the franchise will continue to build around Griffin and Drummond, he said, "They’re great players."

On one matter, Gores was clear. As he has said before, he will not entertain the idea of tanking.

"I just don’t believe in the idea. We need a winning culture here," he said. "Let’s just see what happens from there. I don’t think sports is about that. You can’t get on the court and think about losing. I think this year before the All-Star break nobody thought we would get into the playoffs, so we did do something special."

Gores said he remains open to pushing the team's payroll into the luxury tax next season if it means adding better players.

"This has never been about our financial situation. This has been about delivering to Detroit," he said. "We're not going to function that way. We’re going to do whatever it takes to win. But I think we established some good culture this year.

"If you look at the positives, we do have some great players, we got Dwayne who I think did a good job navigating some of our young players. It’s a process."

Gores was in Detroit for Games 3 and 4, and was encouraged by the rejuvenated atmosphere at Little Caesars Arena . He hopes it's a sign of better days ahead. Now that the Pistons have returned to the playoffs, the bar will be raised higher.

"We never thought just to get in was enough, but we’re happy to get in and I’m very happy to have seen this stadium rocking a little bit and Detroit get going," Gores said. "I think it’s just the beginning of what we can do here."