2020-21 Detroit Pistons

**EGrant** · November-18-20, 09:56 PM

The Pistons selected Killian Hayes with the 7th pick, Isaiah Stewart with the 16th Pick [[via trade) and Saddiq Bey with the 19th pick [[in a trade sending Luke Kennard to the Clippers). The Troy Weaver rebuild process is underway, to say the least.

**DetroitSoldier** · November-18-20, 10:25 PM

Definitely a move for versatile players with good size. I'm going to give him a 2 year pass. Hopefully him and Casey can do something with all the young talent accumulated the last couple of years. I like the direction so far though.

**401don** · November-19-20, 08:54 AM

Finally Gores commits to a complete rebuild with a an aggressive gm, not afraid to put his own stamp on the team. I love Hayes size but wish he was a little more athletic, ie. faster. Weaver obviously likes him when he passed on Haliburton, who fell all the way to 12. Now we just have to move our Miguel Cabrera albatross, Griffin.

**Danny** · November-19-20, 08:58 AM

So long Luke Kennard! You're no use to us anyone. Have a great time with the Clippers.

**Cincinnati_Kid** · November-20-20, 12:55 AM

I like the moves he's making so far. He's cleaning up SVG's and Ed Stefanski's mess. If they can unload Blake Griffin, that would be the cherry on top.

**softailrider** · November-20-20, 06:17 AM

Originally Posted by DetroitSoldier

Definitely a move for versatile players with good size. I'm going to give him a 2 year pass. Hopefully him and Casey can do something with all the young talent accumulated the last couple of years. I like the direction so far though.

This team has had a 12 year pass that I can remember. Another 2 years to develop a point guard who doesn’t shoot well and doesn’t go to the right isn’t exciting me.

**EGrant** · November-20-20, 09:09 AM

This is the first time that they're truly trying to rebuild, which is long overdue. They hung on to the 2004 core players way too long, missed on Ben Gordon/Charlie V/Josh Smith, then tried to piece together a team around Blake that made the playoffs just once.

Detroit isn't a free agent destination, so rebuilding via the draft is a necessity. I'd rather have a bad team of young guys than a bad team of aging/injury-prone guys.

**401don** · November-20-20, 09:32 AM

Originally Posted by EGrant

I'd rather have a bad team of young guys than a bad team of aging/injury-prone guys.

Exactly. The minute they signed Griffin I posted, "Great. 5 more years of mediocrity." It finally sunk in to Gores that even if you're willing to spend you can't rebuild on the fly in the NBA unless you're a free agent destination like Miami or LA.

**softailrider** · November-20-20, 12:42 PM

Originally Posted by EGrant

This is the first time that they're truly trying to rebuild, which is long overdue. They hung on to the 2004 core players way too long, missed on Ben Gordon/Charlie V/Josh Smith, then tried to piece together a team around Blake that made the playoffs just once.

Detroit isn't a free agent destination, so rebuilding via the draft is a necessity. I'd rather have a bad team of young guys than a bad team of aging/injury-prone guys.

I’ll take it any way I can get it, give me a team that’s viable, in the mix, playing meaningful games that give me a reason to watch or actually go to LCA to see a game. Haven’t had much of that lately from any of our teams.

**401don** · November-20-20, 02:25 PM

Originally Posted by softailrider

I’ll take it any way I can get it, give me a team that’s viable, in the mix, playing meaningful games that give me a reason to watch or actually go to LCA to see a game. Haven’t had much of that lately from any of our teams.

yeah all our teams have been pretty unwatchable the last few years. At least in hockey if you hang around .500 and sneek into the playoffs you can get hot and make a run. Even in baseball if your team is not eliminated until Sept. you can follow them daily while enjoying the summer weather. In the NBA if you're not a top tier team you sneek into the playoffs knowing for certain you'll be swept in the 1st round. You better have a gm who really can judge talent and knows how to draft as well as being able to find guys on other teams who aren't being utilized to their ability.

**Zads07** · November-20-20, 09:03 PM

Just gotta trust the Troy Weaver process.

**401don** · November-21-20, 08:08 AM

50 bucks to anyone who can name the Pistons roster. 5 more guys acquired through free agency and trades and 5 more sent away, traded or waived last night.

**Danny** · November-21-20, 08:20 AM

Look what the Pistons got a for trade swap..

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/oth...?ocid=msedgntp

**EastsideAl** · November-25-20, 12:53 PM

Originally Posted by Danny

Look what the Pistons got a for trade swap..

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/oth...?ocid=msedgntp

With the Grant move and the Plumlee signing the Pistons inexplicably follow their 'young rebuilding' by pitching themselves right back into the same salary cap hell they just crawled out of, in order to sign Denver's #3 guy and one of their bench riders.

**401don** · November-25-20, 02:42 PM

Originally Posted by EastsideAl

With the Grant move and the Plumlee signing the Pistons inexplicably follow their 'young rebuilding' by pitching themselves right back into the same salary cap hell they just crawled out of, in order to sign Denver's #3 guy and one of their bench riders.

I want to give Weaver a chance and really liked what he did draft night but yeah, put together these moves have been really puzzling. I get the need to turn the roster over but overpaying for a bunch of tall, slow guys and Grant with the idea that you want to return to a defense first team makes no sense. The league is going the exact opposite direction. This team has no scoring left and stretching contracts to screw up your salary cap is nuts. There are better ways to tank.

**Lowell** · November-26-20, 01:38 PM

Omari Sankofa, the bright young reporter for the Free Press' Pistons beat, offers some good insight on the Plumlee choice, which also initially befuddled me. It's based around top draft choice Killian Hayes being the new point guard...

A simple reason could be that Plumlee has the skillset to make life a lot easier for Killian Hayes, the Pistons' rookie point guard taken seventh overall last Wednesday.

There are many aspects to Hayes' game that qualified him to be Weaver's first draft pick with the Pistons. Standing 6-5 with a 6-8 wingspan, he's big for the point guard position and versatile on defense. He's been playing professionally since he was 16, and thrived as an 18-year-old playing for Ratiopharm ulm, a German squad, last season.

But his best skill is his playmaking. He's good at manipulating defenders in the pick and roll and creating lanes to the rim for himself and others. He's a proficient passer. And thanks to his strong footwork for his age, he has flashed some upside as being able to hit 3
pointers off of the dribble - an important skill that separates many of the NBA's great point guards from the rest of the pack.

Plumlee is one of the better pick-and-roll big men in basketball, and should give Hayes a very capable partner as the rookie adjusts to the pace of the NBA. Plumlee is a good passer and a good screen-setter. Given that Hayes was high on Detroit's draft board, it's possible Plumlee was identified in advance to be paired with Hayes to help ease his transition into the NBA.

Santofa also cites some impressive under-the-radar stats for Plumlee.

Among big men, Plumlee's assist percentage was elite last year. He logged a career-high 21.4% assist rate - in the 96th percentile among big men, according to Cleaning The Glass. His former teammate, Nikola Jokic, led the pack, followed by Giannis Antetokounmpo, Draymond Green, Bam Adebayo and James Johnson. Plumlee tied with Pacers big man Domantas Sabonis. It's good company to be in.

Part of Plumlee's success can be attributed to his role in Denver's offense, which was one of the best in the league last season. But even before joining Plumlee was an above-average passer. He's been at least in the 88th percentile among bigs since his third season, when he was with the Portland Trail Blazers in 2015-16.

Plumlee also excelled as a roller last season, averaging 1.34 points per possession as a pick and- roll roll man according to NBA Stats. It's a top-10 number across the league and comparable to other high-flyers, such as Hawks power forward John Collins and Nets center Jarrett Allen.

The Pistons appear to be following a three year plan, as Plumlee and Jerami Grant both signed there-year contracts. Detroit's rookies - Hayes, Washington and Saddiq Bey - along with Sekou Doumbouya, are the heart of the rebuild. Detroit spending $85 million on two players last week doesn't change the long-term plan.

**Danny** · November-26-20, 04:38 PM

You know why Detroit Pistons win their first NBA Championship in 1989?

1. The franchise appointed a whole new squad.
2. The squad like Isaiah Thomas, Bill Lambeer, Joe Dumars, John Sally and Dennis Rodman decided to never leave the team for a few years. They are going to play
3. They play as a real team
4. They crush their opponents even Michael Jordan and Larry Bird.

If they new squad start playing together, they win together.

And then you have your new Bad Boys!

**EGrant** · November-27-20, 11:10 AM

Great clip, Lowell. Omari is a very talented writer. I like the overall direction Troy Weaver is taking the team, even though I don't understand some of the moves related to trading 2nd round picks and moving around in the draft.

I also don't think this is going to be the finished product either; my guess is they want to see if they can showcase Blake Griffin for the start of the season and hopefully get some more leverage if they do trade him. Previously, they probably would have had to include their own draft picks in order to make the deal work because of Blake's contract, but if Blake proves to be a valuable asset [[with only two years on his deal), they may get a lot more for him in a trade.

For YEARS fans complained that the team should actually rebuild and not try to compete for the 8th seed every year. Now that appears to be what is happening and I see a lot of complaints about the roster. If the young guys like Sekou and Hayes end up turning into franchise players, guys like Plumlee and Grant will probably be gone by then anyway.

**Cincinnati_Kid** · November-27-20, 08:52 PM

Originally Posted by Danny

You know why Detroit Pistons win their first NBA Championship in 1989?

1. The franchise appointed a whole new squad.
2. The squad like Isaiah Thomas, Bill Lambeer, Joe Dumars, John Sally and Dennis Rodman decided to never leave the team for a few years. They are going to play
3. They play as a real team
4. They crush their opponents even Michael Jordan and Larry Bird.

If they new squad start playing together, they win together.

And then you have your new Bad Boys!

They have a long way to go, to even be mentioned with the "Bad Boys" or even the "Going to Work" Pistons for that matter.

**Sehv313** · November-29-20, 09:21 PM

They lost Christian Wood... Yeah, I won't be watching this next season.

**Cincinnati_Kid** · December-02-20, 02:51 AM

Originally Posted by Sehv313

They lost Christian Wood... Yeah, I won't be watching this next season.

He chose to leave. Why he went to Houston is anybody's guess. He'll hardly touch the ball, with Harden and Westbrook on the team.

**sirrealone** · December-02-20, 08:44 AM

Wood had a good run last year, but I think the Pistons, and probably other teams, were leery of giving him a big contract based on that. After all, he did nothing for the few years before that.

Put it another way, he might have been one of their main guys for the next season or two, but he was not going to be a centerpiece for the team that Weaver is trying to assemble, so paying him as such just didn't make sense.

**401don** · December-02-20, 09:34 AM

I'm actually considering buying the NBA pkg., which I haven't for quite a while. While I have questioned some of the trades, I think it will be fun to watch both the draft picks as well as Grant. Grant is a somewhat risky signing but he chose to leave a better team for the same money in order to start and try and take his game to the next level. Rose is still fun to watch also. He seems to like playing here so I would try to extend him if you can't get a 1st round pick for him. Hopefully he can play less minutes now and stay healthy. Always better to watch a young team develop than struggling veterans trying to stay healthy.

**EGrant** · December-03-20, 08:28 AM

Originally Posted by Cincinnati_Kid

He chose to leave. Why he went to Houston is anybody's guess. He'll hardly touch the ball, with Harden and Westbrook on the team.

Westbrook is gone. Harden next? Seems to be a lot of chatter that he wants out.

The Pistons won't be good, but it will be interesting to see the young guys play. Hoping Sekou can take the next step this year and become a more consistent player.

**Lowell** · December-03-20, 12:53 PM

I'm not expecting big things this year but I don't rule out surprises. There is a lot of excellent young talent and two former superstars, maybe hall of famers, who can still bring it to show them the ropes in Rose and Blake. Both according to articles are embracing the mentor roles.

Regarding the Killian Hayes draft, an interesting aspect of it is that he could be a "French connection" for Sekou, giving him someone to converse in his native French. Now if either of both can only be come the next Tony Parker, possibly the greatest French player yet.