In mere weeks the NBA season will resume with 22 teams making the trip down to Orlando. For teams like the Detroit Pistons, offseason planning starts now.
After struggling through much of 2020 the Detroit Pistons will finish with the fifth-worst record in the league, only half a game out of the second-best lottery odds. So where do they go from here with their season officially over?
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The answer got somewhat clearer with the introduction of new general manager Troy Weaver this week. Weaver was the Pistons’ top target coming into the hunt for a lead executive and after pursuing him the last time around Detroit has their man. He is known as a talent evaluator and has cultivated many relationships across the league through respect and hard work.
Detroit is finally setting the culture overall. It began with Ed Stefanski and Arn Tellem starting to get through to owner Tom Gores. Bringing in Dwane Casey has further instilled the need for work and development to get back to the fundamentals of what Detroit Basketball is.
Two of Weaver’s quotes from his introductory press conference really hit home in that regard. First, as noted by the Detroit Free Press’s Omari Sankofa, “We need big-time competitors, and that’ll be the number one trait as we look for players to bring here.”
Then there was the quote above that gave many fans pause. “This isn’t a rebuild. This is a restoring.” Let’s start there.