Betrayer

Good. He's worn out his welcome here.

Yea, that's a rough starting schedule.

Here's the 2024-25 Schedule: https://www.nba.com/pistons/schedule

Wait, he wasn't retired last season?

Good, now we can all stop coming up with silly trades for Lauri that will never happen.

That description fits about 1/3rd of the players drafted since 2005. Even so, it's a bad comp because SJ was a bully-ball player, nothing like Ron. The only thing that comp is good for is riling up Piston's fans. From that same draft, Oubre is actually a better comp. But if we squint our eyes hard enough we can make any comp we want, even rookie Jalen Brown. I don't expect him to become Stanley, Oubre, or Brown, but we'll all find out in a couple years. For now, I'm pretty certain this regime is happy to let him develop with vets he can learn from and have to beat for the spot, rather than depending on a project to win games for you day 1 like the last regime did.

Every Piston fan loves to compare young wings who shoot poorly to Stanley Johnson because of our PTSD. Last year it was Ausar and now it's Holland. Stanley was all bully-ball with poor athleticism, going through people for a lot of under the rim play. He was a bruiser. That above the rim dunk attempt Holland had in the second half of Game 1 alone is enough film for anyone to know that he ain't Stanley Johnson. Who knows if he'll be good or not, but either way it's a terrible comp unless you're just comparing their eventual success in the league, in which case you may or may be right. We'll see in a few years, because he's obviously a project.

I'm actually looking forward to seeing Cade play with real NBA rotation players rather than going out to play Capture the Flagg only to get the 5th pick again anyway. They've simply built a roster that has some NBA players in it, unlike the past few years. That's how you create an environment for young players to develop and be evaluated. All of the vets are short contracts as well, so they can make way for the youth movement if they develop, or you can move on to the next rebuild if not.

The 9th worst team last year had 32 wins. After winning just 14 games last year and not topping the 23 win mark for the past 5 years, 32 would be a smashing success. It would also mean that Cade (and probably 1 other youngster) has taken a significant step forward.

Totally agree. This is the biggest remaining hole in the roster. They have no backup PG after Cade (or for when Cade misses 20 games). Ivey ain't it. Sasser is an even worse choice. I have to imagine they have another move coming. They still have cap space to help facilitate a trade.

3rd game was a lot like the second game where the team played much better in the second half and came out with the win. One of the beat reporters said that the team wants Sasser to show his playmaking, which makes sense why he's been playing like garbage in the first half of these games and then, in the second half, you can see him flip the switch and go into scoring mode where he plays much better. He's not a PG. If that's what you want him to be trade him now. Also, if you want him to be a 6'1" SG on a team full of bigger SGs, trade him now. What I'm saying is, trade him. Jenkins, on the other hand, has been showing me a lot more on both sides of the ball. I'm glad to see that the days of the Buddy Boeheim 2-way contracts are gone and we've managed to sign an actual player. It's just preseason, but he looks like a better fit at the end of the bench than Sasser. Klintman looks like a solid pickup in the second round that could become a bench rotation player in the NBA. Smart player, very good passer, good cutter, can shoot from outside, can play some defense and rebound a bit as well. Needs some seasoning and some muscle, but he looks promising. Holland looks...raw. Clearly a swing on upside, but this kid will need a couple years to develop. I like his constant aggression and he does fill up the stat sheet, but the efficiency, strength, IQ, and handle all need work. I don't expect him to get many minutes this season except in garbage time and at the end of the year.

SL Game 2 was a lot more fun even though Ron Holland didn't play (are we seriously doing Load Management in Summer League?). They're saying he'll play tomorrow. It's been a long time since I got to hear an announcer say, "dominate defensive performance by the Pistons in the 4th quarter." Jenkins played really well and carried the team in the first half. He had half the teams points and played some solid defense all night. Sasser was garbage in the first half, but played a nice second half breaking down the defense despite not being able to make an outside shot. Even so, as a second year NBA player at his age he should be dominating Summer League and he's just not. Another nice game from Klintman who was the only other guy hitting outside shots. Reed and Whitemore came in as the darlings of Summer League to this point and they got absolutely locked up by the Pistons defense.

A clear sign that they don't mess around when they decide to tank.

Sasser looked bad and in general I don't think he has a place on this roster now that you have taller shooters available who can actually catch and shooter rather than requiring a side step dribble every time. He's clearly not a point guard either. I'd love to see them pick up a vet PG (if they can find one) even if they're going to stagger Cade and Ivey. Holland looked like I expected. An athletic prospect who needs work and is suddenly realizing that he can't just out-athlete everyone anymore. But, that's why they built a roster of serviceable vets so we don't have to play a rookie who needs development 35 minutes per game like Weaver did. Klintman looked pretty good. Showed some nice passing, cutting, and shooting touch. Daniss Jenkins was better than Sasser and had some nice defensive plays, but overall he was nothing to write home about. Overall, this summer league roster is bad. Very little shooting, no actual PG, and the center position is terrible. Still wish we could've landed Reed Sheppard.

Looking forward to it! Itching for Pistons basketball. After this it's 3 months of waiting.

Reunited at last with the man who drafted him.

JB Bickerstaff press conference today:

Solid move to get some Center depth. He played all 82 last season either backing up or starting for Embiid when he was injured.

In regards to Tobias, why does the discourse always have to be either: A) He sucks! B) He's an All-Star! Everyone who chooses option A loves to use the tiny sample size of his 6 playoff games from 2024. What about the 2023 playoffs where he averaged 15 and 7 on 52/37/87 splits in 11 games? What about the entire 2024 season when he averaged 17, 6.5, and 3.1 on 49/35/88 and played in 70 games? No, he's not an elite shooter, but he shoots it well enough to have gravity and his Synergy rank is Above Average to Very Good at every facet of scoring. He's also not an All-Star and anyone who expected us to attract an All-Star hasn't been paying attention. Tobias is a solid vet and a legitimate starter at a position of need on a short contract. He's exactly the type of player this team needs to raise the floor and start to rebuild it's reputation. Solid pickup for a 14 win team that no free agent in their right mind wants to come to. Again, these vets are all transitional players. If the youngsters don't pan out then we're back into a full rebuild. If they do, then you've surrounded them with solid players to help them develop.

-41% overall on threes -43% on catch and shoot threes -40% on guarded catch and shoot -47% on open threes -95th percentile as shooter in the NBA last season -Less than 1 turnover per game -Played 79 games and started in 77 of them for a playoff bound team No, he 's not a defender, but that Beasley deal for 6M is an absolute score for Langdon. I realize this team has been garbage for a while now and so we're all jaded, but so far the offseason has been solid. They've acquired multiple vets who provide spacing, have low turnovers, and are durable. Those were 3 of the 4 major issues from last season. Yes, defense is still a concern but you aren't solving all the problems of a 14 win team in one off-season.

I was hoping for a soft ban, where teams just decided not to sign him. Unfortunately, Charlotte is happy to have a team full of garbage human beings.

KCP is a two time-champ who's gone from playoff team to playoff team. He wasn't coming here. Let's be real. Even draft prospects were told not to workout here by their agents. Like I said previously, we have to put out the dumpster fire before we're going to get any players. Raise the floor and build a respectable organization. And we certainly don't have a lot of assets to give away to trade for good players either thanks to Weaver's rebuild strategy. Tobias isn't an All-Star but he's a legitimate starter at a position of need and a perennial 17ppg scorer who's rated as Above Average to Very Good on Synergy at every facet of scoring. He's a neutral defender, unlike Bogie who was a huge minus on that end and got hunted on every play. And he's also been very durable in his career, unlike Bogie. He'll raise the floor.

There have been Tobias rumors for a long time because he has ties to Michigan. His wife went to Michigan State and they met while he played for the Pistons. Apparently, they come back often and he's actually one of the few people who wants to play here.

Were people expecting us to attract All-Stars in free agency? Trade our empty asset cupboards for them? We have to put out the dumpster fire before anyone is coming here. We also have to see what we have in the youth movement before locking in to players like Ingram for the next 5 years. I hate to be the positive one, but everything they've done so far tracks pretty well with what we should have expected after hearing Trajan's vision. These are all things he talked about at the presser: Raise the floor Build a better culture/organization Develop/evaluate the young players Get NBA players who will actually play Acquire future assets Improve shooting Improve the defense Reduce turnovers Tobias - Actual NBA starter and floor raiser. Durable. Low turnovers. Floor spacer. Good locker room guy. Short contract to remain flexible. THJ - NBA rotation player (25+ mpg game on a good team = better than 70% of the guys we rolled out last year). Pretty durable. Floor spacer. Low turnovers. Added draft capital. Short contract. Bickerstaff - Floor raiser. His teams in Memphis and Cleveland were near the top of the league in defense and low turnovers. Vinson - Development. Improve shooting. Improve the organization. The deals have to be there for them to absorb contracts, so who knows how much of that will happen. And they still have 25M in cap space, so there's plenty of money to do stupid things, but if they bring in someone like Gary Trent Jr and maybe absorb Capella, they've really raised the floor, easily double the win total, and changed the narrative around the team while developing youth without being locked in long term. You also still have a shot at a good pick in 2025 as well. If Cade takes an SGA or Haliburton leap and another youngster pans out, you can start making bigger swings. You might even have a free agent look at you. If not, then you aren't committed long term and you can keep drafting. We can't forget that although we may have endured 15+ years of Piston's trash basketball, Trajan hasn't. I'm sure he expects to come in here and be given a few years to build it the way he sees fit without "skipping steps".

Are there bad reports about his character or something? He's essentially a 5 years younger version of KCP. Can't imagine why a contender wouldn't want a guy like that.