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?
This is a woeful start, but the team is not entirely healthy, the Pistons have a new coach, and the core is young.
Cade, Ivery, Duren, Thompson, and Beef Stew are a strong young core, and with Joe Harris and Bojan providing guys who spread the floor, this team has a lot of potential.
The biggest weak link is with ball handing. Outside of Ivey, none of these guys are play makers, and Hayes is not working.
This is the kind of young core that teams need to be patient with. You blow them up now, we’ll just watch these guys develop and thrive elsewhere.
Like what happened with Kris Middleton.
People need to take the long view in situations like this.
The biggest failing right now is not shoring up the point guard position and getting a couple playmakers to run the point when Ivey isn’t on.
Other teams have multiple guys who can make players at different positions, but this team doesn’t have playmakers at other positions.