If you’re a fan of the Detroit Pistons like myself, you probably have the same question that I have after their draft and first couple days of free agency. What are they trying to do? How was the Pistons Draft? How has the Pistons Free Agency gone? I’ll take you through Troy Weaver’s first offseason as the Pistons GM and detail the moves that the Pistons have made over the past couple of days.
The Draft
Going into the morning of draft day, the Pistons had the seventh overall pick. There was a lot of talk on what Detroit was going to do with that pick. With a lot of speculation on the Pistons eyeing LaMelo Ball, a lot of the league thought they were going to throw Blake Griffin into a trade to pick up a top three pick. As we all know – this did not happen. The Pistons decided to stay at seven. Before they could decide on who they were going to take at seven, they added the veteran Trevor Ariza and 16th overall pick from the Houston Rockets for a future first rounder. I loved this move considering that I knew they would either waive or trade Ariza to bring more young talent on their roster sooner than later with picking up the 16th overall pick this year.
Rockets are trading Trevor Ariza and the No. 16 pick to the Pistons for a future first-round pick, per @wojespn pic.twitter.com/rMwmYrd976
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) November 18, 2020
So now, with Adam Silver at the podium, the Pistons were looking at two picks inside the first 16 selections. It was the first time I actually became excited about this team since they traded for Blake Griffin a couple years back. With Detroit on the clock, they had a plethora of young players with All-Star potential. To be honest, I think they were a little shocked at who was still on the board – I know I sure was. There was Obi Toppin, the 2020 National College Player of the year, from Dayton, Tyrese Haliburton, the lanky, athletic, point guard from Iowa State, Deni Avdija, the 19 year old small forward from Israel and finally Killian Hayes, the lefty point guard from France. With the seventh overall pick, the Detroit Pistons took 6’5”, 19-year old Frenchman, Killian Hayes.
Killian Hayes
Hayes, who has already played professionally since he was 16 in France and Germany, was going to be the Pistons pick all along. I don’t think Troy Weaver or the Pistons thought that Toppin or Haliburton would be there at seven. After Hayes was selected, it looked like he was going to be the pick no matter who was available. I think Hayes could potentially have a very solid career. With Hayes already having three years of professional basketball under his belt, you could argue his experience makes him the most NBA ready player in the draft.
Hayes finished his season with Ulm averaging 12.8 point per game, 6.2 assists per game, 1.5 steals per game and shot an impressive 39% from distance. I love that Hayes will get the opportunity to play and learn under Derrick Rose. That is at least until they decide to trade Rose, with his contract expiring this offseason. After all is said and done, I’m excited to see what Hayes can do.
Isaiah Stewart
With having another first round pick, I was rooting for the Pistons to grab Tyrese Maxey, a shooting guard out of Kentucky. This would not be the case. Sadly, the Pistons would go with the exact opposite. With the 16th overall pick, the Pistons selected the 6’9” center from Washington, Isaiah Stewart. This was my first but not last time asking myself, “What are the Pistons doing?” They traded a future first round pick to take an undersized center who can’t spread the floor? The Pistons reached for no reason here. Not to the best of my knowledge at least. Stewart did average 17 points per game, 8.8 rebounds and 2.1 blocks a game but I just don’t see his game working out at the next level.
This next move became a surprise to everyone. The biggest Woj bomb of the draft sent the longest tenured Piston packing his bags to Los Angeles. In a three team deal, the Pistons dealt shooting guard Luke Kennard to the Clippers, the Clippers sent shooting guard Landry Shamet to the Nets and the Pistons received the 19th overall pick from the Nets. This was a great move for the Pistons if they weren’t on intending to give Kennard an extension.
Saddiq Bey
With this pick, the Pistons had the opportunity to grab who I thought they would grab with the 16th pick in Tyrese Maxey. They passed on Maxey again and grabbed a 6’8”forward from Villanova, Saddiq Bey. At this point in the draft, I thought this was a good pickup, but I would have thought they would go in the direction of a guard, especially with just giving Kennard away. At Villanova, Bey averaged 16.1 points per game, 4.7 rebounds per game and shot a very impressive 45.1% from three. With this selection, it gives them the benefit of adding another shooter to the lineup.
Saben Lee
With three first round picks, I thought the Pistons would be done but they made one more move before the night was over and snagged center Tony Bradley and the 38th pick for future considerations. Acquiring another center that can’t spread the floor is when I really started to dislike the Isaiah Stewart pick. With the 38th pick in the draft, I wasn’t really sure what the Pistons were going to do. All I know is they better not select another big man who can’t shoot. The Pistons selected Saben Lee, the 6’2 point guard from Vanderbilt. I didn’t mind this pick up at all, giving another point guard an opportunity to learn from Derrick Rose. Lee averaged 18.6 points per game, 4.2 assists per game, 1.5 steals per game and shooting 48.3% from the field. Hopefully the two way guard can be the steal of the second round.
If I had to grade Troy Weaver’s first draft as GM, I would give him a B. It looked like the Pistons were finally going to tank and not try to sneak into the 8th seed. This thought lasted less than 48 hours.
Free Agency
Going into Friday Night, I was hoping they would re-sign the 25-year old stretch power forward, Christian Wood. Before Covid-19 ending Wood’s breakout season, he averaged 24.6 points and 9.4 rebounds a game in his last seven. He emerged himself as one of the top guys in 2020 free agency as a cheaper young big who could spread the floor. We knew in the first hour of free agency that the Pistons, didn’t have a great shot at re-signing wood.
Mason Plumlee
The first move the Pistons made on Friday was signing big man Mason Plumlee to a three-year, 25 million dollar contract. What are we doing here Troy??? We just added two centers on draft day, added Dwyane Dedmon on Thursday and we are going to add another one today? Sadly, that wasn’t all.
A few minutes after the Pistons decided to sign center Jahlil Okafor, the. number three pick in the 2015 NBA Draft, to a two-year deal. You have to be kidding me. So in the matter of three days, we picked up five centers, that aren’t worth anything offensively unless they’re on the block. Again, I’m thinking to myself, “What are the Pistons doing?” Not only did you just sign two centers but now they wont be able to sign Christian wood. Plumlee and Okafor combined last year for 15.3 point and 9.4 rebounds a game. Wood, averaged more points and rebounds by himself in his last seven games. Sigh.
Jerami Grant
Thinking that this would be over for the Pistons moves, they made a shocking move by signing the former Denver Nugget, Jerami Grant. The Pistons made a sign-and-trade with Denver where Grant signed a three-year, 60 million dollar contract with Detroit. Detroit also picked up the draft right to Nikola Radicevic as the Nuggets received cash considerations. For me this was very head scratching move. It’s not because Grant isn’t a solid player but what are the pistons doing? There is no identity around this offseason. Are they trying to build around a of Blake Griffin and Derrick Rose to get a low eight seed in the East? I really hope not because that is getting this franchise no where.
Amongst all of this they let the future star in Christian Wood go in a sign- in-trade with the Houston Rockets with Wood signing a three-year, 41 million dollar deal.
Report: Christian Wood to join Rockets in sign-and-trade deal
Report: Christian Wood to join Rockets in sign-and-trade deal https://t.co/BhSqFAFlkY
— MLive (@MLive) November 21, 2020
Originally tweeted by MLive (@MLive) on November 21, 2020.
To round up the Pistons free agency, the pistons also acquired center Dwayne Dedmon from Atlanta, sending Tony Snell and Khyri Thomas out the door. They signed former number four overall pick in Josh Jackson. They made another three-way trade where the Pistons received point guard Delon Wright from Dallas and dumped Trevor Ariza’s contract to Oklahoma City. Finally, they traded center Tony Bradley to Philadelphia for shooting guard Zhaire Smith. Overall if I had to grade it, I would give the Pistons a C for free agency.
Wow. That was a lot of moves to make in the last five days of the draft and free agency. Troy Weaver has been a very busy man but will it pay off? I’m really hoping the Pistons wont be competitive at all this year so we can go tank mode and start fresh.
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