Detroit Pistons: The season is over, what’s next?

Weaver’s background

Looking at Troy Weaver’s path to the Pistons may help us project where we may be going from here. Weaver started his basketball career as an assistant college coach from 1998 through 2004 before moving into scouting. The popular connection going around is that he was instrumental in bringing Carmelo Anthony to Syracuse for the 2002-2003 season.

Weaver started as the head scout for the Utah Jazz after his coaching career and was eventually promoted to director of player personnel three years later. After a year in the role, he would move to Oklahoma City before being promoted to assistant general manager and vice president two years later. Then in 2018, he was promoted again to vice president of basketball operations. Some may say this promotion came as a way to keep Weaver given the Pistons interest in him in 2018 as well.

The goal for Troy Weaver in Detroit seems simple. He is looking to bring Detroit Basketball to what it has been in years past: gritty, hard-working, often-times defense first. The stress on setting a culture and bringing in good people, not just good players sets the undercurrent for his vision but does not really indicate what kind of players he intends to bring in.

Fans who are really ready for a few years of tanking were shaken by the words “This isn’t a rebuild” in Weaver’s introductory press conference. They were ready for Gores and Co. to finally commit to rebuilding instead of trying to win-now when all that really means is sneaking into an eight seed for a couple of home playoff games. Should they be worried?