I continuously see Pistons fans huffing farts fed to them by the front office via beat writers, talking about how it’s unfair to judge this “restore” after nearly half a decade because Troy Weaver took the job when the team had minimal assets. Taking a look around the league, it’s pretty disheartening to see other teams (namely the Magic, Rockets and Thunder) who have started a rebuild, with similarly aged players and draft capital, and are already playoff caliber teams, while the Pistons have continuously been a bottom 3 team in the league and remain as such.
Comparing the moves we’ve made over the course of 4 years to teams on a similar timeline and comparing how this team has been built paints a pretty bleak picture.
Magic - The Magic drafted Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner, Jalen Suggs and Cole Anthony with their own picks within the exact same timeline as the “restore”, yet they’re 11-5 and just beat the Nuggets (Jokic and Malone didn’t even get ejected!)
The area where all of these teams truly put the Pistons to shame are the players that they’ve effectively picked up for nothing. , the Magic have went and picked Markelle Fultz, Mo Wagner, Gary Harris, Joe Ingles and Goga Bitadze. All of them are playing meaningful minutes for them every night, and these are all guys who were picked up for next to nothing, or literally nothing in free agency.
Rockets - To me, this is the most disappointing comparison out of this group of teams, because it’s the most fair. The Rockets were stuck in the basement of the league right alongside the Pistons, and climbed out off of the strength of their drafting, free agent pickups and a great coaching hire.
Houston has drafted Jalen Green, Jabari Smith, Alperen Sengun and Tari Eason in this timeframe, and the four of them fit together seamlessly. Fred VanVleet, Dillon Brooks, Jae’Sean Tate and Aaron Holiday were all picked up for free and give this team great minutes every night.
Thunder - Before you grab your pitchforks and tell me this team traded for SGA with assets the Pistons didn’t have, I know. Separately, The Thunder have put together a true contender with the picks they made with their own draft capital. Chet, Jalen Williams and Josh Giddey play a beautiful brand of basketball together. And for a team that Troy Weaver is supposedly influenced by, their team is filled out with players that put his pickups during his time with the Pistons to shame. Isaiah Joe, Lu Dort and Kenrich Williams would all start on this roster.
For comparison’s sake, here’s some names that Troy Weaver has tried to fill out the Pistons roster with over the course of 4 years:
- James Wiseman
- Marvin Bagley
- Dennis Smith Jr.
- Josh Jackson
- Hamidou Diallo
- Jahlil Okafor
- RJ Hampton
- Bol Bol (voided after physical)
- Kevin Knox
- Nerlens Noel
While Troy Weaver was busy surveying the NBA landscape for his next known draft bust, these teams have gone out and built legitimately good teams with extremely young core players, something that I commonly see as an explanation for why the Pistons are 2-14.
Honestly, this breakdown is a little bit charitable. Troy Weaver has picked in the top 7 four times, including 1st overall, as well as picks at 13, 16, 19 and 25, and has had a boatload of cap space for multiple offseasons. My question to anyone who is adamant that this team and front office just needs more time - how do you explain away how much better these teams have built around similarly aged and drafted players? Do we really need half a decade of evidence to conclude we aren’t heading in the right direction?
For me, it all comes down to free agency. We had $30 mill last summer and Weaver decided to fill 2/3 with the ghost of Joe Harris. Just humor me here:
A couple alternate universe scenarios:
-Troy signed Grant Williams and Dillon Brooks. (3 year contracts at reasonable prices.) Would have give. Is a stretch PF, who plays great D and a chip on his shoulder bad boy in Brooks. The kind of guy fans love and he can play.
~Max Strus for 3 years AND Kelly Oubre and Christian Wood on 1 year vet minimum deals. (Strus would solidify the 2-spot off the bench or spot starting for the next 3 years. Oubre and Wood are both instant offense and on “prove it” deals. (Both could start or come off the bench. Gives coach options. Wood could be that stretch 4 this season that this team desperately needs.)
Obviously, these guys would have had to say yes. But my point is both of these scenarios would have helped tremendously and would not have been overpays or crippled the team financially. Instead Weaver looked at a 17-win team and said…nah, we good. And rolled the same group out there.