After a wild week of Detroit Pistons trades, draft picks, and signings, we examine the bigger picture of Troy Weaver’s moves and why to be patient.
There’s no denying that Troy Weaver’s first week of active transactions for the Detroit Pistons was a giant rollercoaster ride. There was excitement, anger and head-scratching all in the span of an hour on multiple days and nights. And while it’s fair to evaluate each deal individually, it’s equally important to view everything through a broader lens.
In many ways, the initial week of the offseason was a microcosm of what Detroit Pistons fans can expect in the impending rebuild. The roster and approach will be ever-evolving, requiring patience in analyzing the actions of the front office and coaching staff. The plan will need to become more clearly defined as time pasts, but ultimately the execution will determine successes and failures.
The ever-evolving nature of a rebuild is important to its execution. Flexibility, in thought and action, is critical.
We know that the NBA is a league that changes constantly. A new team emerges with a new approach and others begin to emulate it rather than be left behind. The Pistons are at least three years from fielding a competitive squad and the league will have evolved from what it currently is by then. And Troy Weaver needs to be ready to adapt. His demonstrated willingness to move assets freely is something of a positive in that regard.
Mechanically building a roster requires flexibility in terms of the salary cap. And that is where this week was disappointing for the Pistons. They are reportedly waiving-and-stretching two players for a little under $4 million a year for five seasons after finally getting Josh Smith off the books. Weaver did so in order to sign Jerami Grant and Mason Plumlee to three-year contracts rather than save some space to take on bigger contracts and draft picks like his mentor Sam Presti has done this offseason.
More than meets the eyes to the Detroit Pistons offseason
But that’s where some level of patience is warranted in analyzing those moves as a part of the bigger picture. Believe it or not, the three-year length of those contracts lines up very well with Detroit’s timeline.
If the Pistons hold on to Griffin through the end of his contract, they will have nearly $40 million coming off the books in the summer of 2022. If their younger players have developed, providing a clear path forward, they’ll be looking to make more targeted moves to strengthen the roster for the future. And the contracts of Grant and Plumlee will collectively provide an extremely appealing $28 million worth of expiring deals to trade for assets.
Perhaps that’s giving Weaver’s vision too much credit, but it’s true nonetheless. And it’s exactly why analysis of Detroit’s moves going forward should be a much more complex conversation than just about whether a player is overpaid or not. Other moves, like taking on DeWayne Dedmon because he had an extra year of only $1 million guaranteed allowing them to stretch a smaller amount of money over two more years suggests that the new Pistons general manager is not simply mashing buttons. Regardless of where you fall on the move, it was a clearly calculated decision.
And that is where execution will ultimately define just where the Pistons franchise goes from here. Soon, Weaver will need to find more value in his trades and contracts if he’s going to build a sustainable contender in the future.
The initial reviews are mixed and often confusing, but nothing that has been done can’t be undone. Given that and the constantly-changing league that Detroit is operating in, it’s fair to wait and see how Troy Weaver can execute his plan over a longer period of time.