Official Detroit Pistons thread

[Cody_Russell]

This is poor timing for Bridges.

[froot loops]

Young Glove or Oladipo is a tough call. I've been on the Payton bandwagon but Oladipo is better offensively. Both players are useful rotation players on contender that won't get played off the court.

[ghandi]

How many guards do the Pistons need? They spent their top draft pick the last 3 drafts on a guard.......

[froot loops]

Oladipo would play 3 with Pistons. Payton is a guard but he can guard all kinds of players, offensively in half court sets he played spacer in the corner with GS. Either player is a 3 in a smaller lineup. But neither player would get hunted.

[Futureshock]

2022/2023 Pistons come across as a 32 to 36 win team right now IMO. Assuming normal injury impact and the young players ascending at an expected rate. This is also totally fine with where the roster is heading. Pistons have a great opportunity to make some noise 2 to 3 years from now based on this talented young core.
Troy Weaver probably has more moves this offseason. It’s not like the 15 man roster is final.

I’m anticipating the 6th, 7th, or 8th overall pick next year. With some lottery luck, maybe higher!

Okay. And in the meantime do we sign Bey to a max contract or lose him? Stewart? Hayes? See fans talk like everything here is static. It isn't. Guys are playing for their next contract and aren't interested in hometown deals. So at a point you're just trying to replace what you lose and hope to heck the replacement can be equal to what you lost.

In an ideal world I would agree and hope for that timeline. But time and time again 5 year plans fail. Simply because things kinda need to come together before it falls apart.

P&S Let's look at it in a detailed way (instead of a general, they should be able to contend in X years):

You got as a (current) core:
Cade (PG/SG/SF)
Bey (SG/SF/PF)
Stewart (PF/C)
Hayes (PG/SG/SF) ?
Diallo (SG/SF) ?
Bagley III (PF/C) ?
Lee (PG/SG) ?
Livers (SF/PF) ?
Ivey (PG/SG/SF)
Duren (PF/C)

So, locked in the future, is Cade, Bey, Stewart, Ivey and Duren. I like Hayes, Diallo and Bagley III to also be in that core when we are "contending" But there's almost no chance those 8 players are all here in 2-3 years. At that point, again, your treading water and hoping you can keep everyone here and focused after being losers for 5-6 years.

How many losses has the trio of Bey, Stewart and Hayes had to live through here? Another 50 losses going to be good teaching material for them? What about another 100 losses by this 2 year period? Do you guys understand what that does to your psyche as a teenager?

Winning isn't a light switch thing and it isn't a thing that happens just because you add players. Winning comes in stages and usually within 3 years total. That's just the reality of sports in 2022. This ain't 1982 when you could do a 5 year plan. Salary caps and the high price of re-signing/signing players to these enormous contracts forces the issue.

They need to at least, be on the cusp of the playoffs this year. At the end of the year I saw a team that had turned the corner and were a threat to any team in the NBA. Next is they win a lot more games and are an even bigger threat to those top teams. And maybe come close to being in the playoffs. Next year (2023-2024) they need to be in the play-in game or better. Beyond that is up to them, but if they can win 32-36 games right now I would think next year they will make noise. By then they all should have enough experience to go with their skill.

[Futureshock]

Bobby Portis Declines $4.7M Player Option With Bucks

Bobby Portis Declines $4.7M Player Option With Bucks

JUN 29, 2022 5:38 PM

Bobby Portis has declined his $4.7 million player option with the Milwaukee Bucks for the 2022-23 season. Portis will now be an unrestricted free agent on July 1.

Portis is still expected to re-sign with Milwaukee. Using his Early Bird rights, the Bucks can re-sign Portis to a four-year deal with $49 million.

Portis has become a fan favorite in Milwaukee. He was a big part of the Bucks winning the 2021 NBA Finals, and was a regular starter last season while Brook Lopez rehabbed from back surgery.

ADRIAN WOJNAROWSKI/ESPN

[Futureshock]

We can't get in on that?

[jaadam4]

This is poor timing for Bridges.

We were already on the outs with the second NYK trade but we dodged the bullet there

[jaadam4]

We can't get in on that?

Any player that can play in sunglasses is cool by me

[froot loops]

I like Portis, but that was extension has been expected for awhile and that's why you have seen some of the moves the Pistons made for the bigs. And those moves will help them compete for a play-in spot. They are probably a lotto team, but not like they were the last two years.

As far as worrying about it extensions for some of the young players, it's not a problem if the owner is willing to pay the luxury tax. If Saddiq Bey is worth a baby max extension, you extended him.

[ghandi]

Portis is a good fit for the roster really....Hes not quite as good as Grant but if it just takes 10M or so then he is a nice player and would most likely slide right into starting 4 slot with Bagley at the 5.....If they get Portis and maybe a Gary Payton those would be nice additions that would help the team possibly reach the play in next year...I imagine that Portis would like to stay with Giannis though.

[Futureshock]

Portis is a good fit for the roster really....Hes not quite as good as Grant but if it just takes 10M or so then he is a nice player and would most likely slide right into starting 4 slot with Bagley at the 5.....If they get Portis and maybe a Gary Payton those would be nice additions that would help the team possibly reach the play in next year...I imagine that Portis would like to stay with Giannis though.

Yeah. We would have to probably offer a lot more.

[Cody_Russell]

Whoa, KD! Craziness.

Okay. And in the meantime do we sign Bey to a max contract or lose him? Stewart? Hayes? See fans talk like everything here is static. It isn't. Guys are playing for their next contract and aren't interested in hometown deals. So at a point you're just trying to replace what you lose and hope to heck the replacement can be equal to what you lost.

In an ideal world I would agree and hope for that timeline. But time and time again 5 year plans fail. Simply because things kinda need to come together before it falls apart.

P&S Let's look at it in a detailed way (instead of a general, they should be able to contend in X years):

You got as a (current) core:
Cade (PG/SG/SF)
Bey (SG/SF/PF)
Stewart (PF/C)
Hayes (PG/SG/SF) ?
Diallo (SG/SF) ?
Bagley III (PF/C) ?
Lee (PG/SG) ?
Livers (SF/PF) ?
Ivey (PG/SG/SF)
Duren (PF/C)

So, locked in the future, is Cade, Bey, Stewart, Ivey and Duren. I like Hayes, Diallo and Bagley III to also be in that core when we are "contending" But there's almost no chance those 8 players are all here in 2-3 years. At that point, again, your treading water and hoping you can keep everyone here and focused after being losers for 5-6 years.

How many losses has the trio of Bey, Stewart and Hayes had to live through here? Another 50 losses going to be good teaching material for them? What about another 100 losses by this 2 year period? Do you guys understand what that does to your psyche as a teenager?

Winning isn't a light switch thing and it isn't a thing that happens just because you add players. Winning comes in stages and usually within 3 years total. That's just the reality of sports in 2022. This ain't 1982 when you could do a 5 year plan. Salary caps and the high price of re-signing/signing players to these enormous contracts forces the issue.

They need to at least, be on the cusp of the playoffs this year. At the end of the year I saw a team that had turned the corner and were a threat to any team in the NBA. Next is they win a lot more games and are an even bigger threat to those top teams. And maybe come close to being in the playoffs. Next year (2023-2024) they need to be in the play-in game or better. Beyond that is up to them, but if they can win 32-36 games right now I would think next year they will make noise. By then they all should have enough experience to go with their skill.

The idea is that the young core will ascend and grow together. Sprinkle in a few veterans. Wins will come in time. The young core just needs to get experience. I’m a big fan of Weaver’s strategy. If the wins don’t come by 2023/2024 (barring significant injuries), then there could be an issue.
Totally fine to go 33-49 next season. Then expect the Pistons to take the next jump in the following season.
I don’t think the Pistons have to worry about paying Bey or Stu for another few years, right? Time will tell.

I’m thinking of a team like the Atlanta Hawks in recent years when it comes to this strategy. Talented young core that eventually started to win. Plenty of similar examples.

[Futureshock]

Interesting article...

https://www.nba.com/pistons/news/inflection-point-how-a-years-worth-of-work-had-weaver-pistons-prepared-on-draft-nigh

Inflection point: How a year’s worth of work had Weaver, Pistons prepared on draft night

For the Pistons to come out of the draft with Jaden Ivey, the consensus best guard in the 2022 draft, and Jalen Duren, a 6-foot-11 slab of granite who won’t turn 19 until a month into the 2022-23 regular season, required Weaver and his inner circle to be prepared to exploit opportunity as it arose.

Those opportunities came as part of the vulnerabilities and desires of two rival franchises on opposite coasts.

For weeks leading to the draft, a commonly heard refrain became, “The draft starts at four.” Sacramento, by virtue of moving from seventh in draft position to fourth via the lottery, would pick after Orlando, Oklahoma City and Houston divvied up the three big men who’d been projected as the first three picks for months – Paolo Banchero, Chet Holmgren and Jabari Smith....

[Futureshock]

Whoa, KD! Craziness.



The idea is that the young core will ascend and grow together. Sprinkle in a few veterans. Wins will come in time. The young core just needs to get experience. I’m a big fan of Weaver’s strategy. If the wins don’t come by 2023/2024 (barring significant injuries), then there could be an issue.
Totally fine to go 33-49 next season. Then expect the Pistons to take the next jump in the following season.
I don’t think the Pistons have to worry about paying Bey or Stu for another few years, right? Time will tell.

I’m thinking of a team like the Atlanta Hawks in recent years when it comes to this strategy. Talented young core that eventually started to win. Plenty of similar examples.

Unless they stumble on to a superstar at a pick in the double digits, major improvements will need to come from FA and trades.

Loops is right on the baby max thing and the luxury tax thing, but, is gore going to pony up for the luxury tax for a team with over 200 losses in a 4 year span? That doesn't sound like a viable thing. Or maybe it is and this old man just doesn't get it. Which is probably closer to the truth. But a lot of the success stories today seem to come together quickly. I can not think of a single time that a 5 year plan has worked in recent history. Life, family and money always gets in the way.

This is a talented team and they started playing up to their abilities late in the year. I just don't see them losing 50+ games this year. And certainly not next year. Those 10 players I listed and Noel and the other guy (they got from NY) should be a formidable opponent for any team. I think they crossed over and you guys missed it. They'll be good this year.