Betrayer

Vinson is about to pull a Dan Burke and not show up for work.

Couldn’t find a trade? Holland would’ve been there at 9 probably. Took a big swing on an athlete who can’t shoot. Vinson needs a raise and hasn’t even started yet.

Ok, now find a trade!

Looking like Clingan will be there for a trade…unless SA finds a way to screw us. Hopefully they take Castle as predicted.

Do things get interesting at #3 with Houston or do they just take Reed like everyone has predicted since the lottery?

That’s free agency these days. Not sure I believe Detroit was ever going to pursue him with Trajan’s plans to acquire assets anyway. I wouldn’t have minded him, but I’m kinda happy we aren’t spending money on a Center.

He's been asked to do everything on offense and he's young, but he's far from a 1 way player. He's actually shown some very good defensive potential and switchability due to his size and length. Consistency will be the key, as will good coaching and a real roster. Turnovers were an issue early in the season. Not so much later in the season. He wound up averaging 3.4 even after a rough start, which is a touch higher than you want in the long run but not crazy for a second year guy with that kind of usage. For reference, Luka averages 4 for his career.

I love draft picks as well, so I understand this line of thinking. However, this just gets us a bunch of draft picks in the hopes of getting a player...who's as good as Cade. But we won't, because we're not finding a Cade level player no matter how many picks we get in the late 20s of the first round. Those guys come from high lottery picks.

The Wizards might have an open roster spot for him.

His comp is Walker Kessler.

I know you're joking, but there's a lot of truth here. Much like Weaver with Wiseman, I'm sure there are a lot of GMs who had Duren and Ivey very high on their draft board and still see the potential. It actually helps that Pistons organization has been a joke because they might think they can unlock those young players in a better system. The farther you get from the draft, the more the shine of "potential" wears off. Langdon has to ask himself if he sees the long term fit of these players. If not, and you reduce their role this season, then their value only goes down from here. Plus, you have to deal with their contracts or you have to convince another team to deal with it on a shorter timeline.

Last chance before it all kicks off at the draft tonight. We all love to sit back and criticize what this organization does (and for good reason), but what's YOUR plan for the off-season? Based upon what I heard from Langdon at the press conference, here's what I'm thinking: COACH: I'm doing whatever I can to bring Chris Quinn in here. They talked about building a culture of accountability and a foundation for winning. That guy has seen it and hopefully absorbed it all from Spo and the Heat organization. DRAFT: Trade down with Memphis (Clingan), San Antonio, or Portland for their pick and a future asset. Draft Devin Carter. TRADE 1: Take on Capella's remaining year (22M) from the Hawks in exchange for a future asset. Gives you a rim protector and someone that Duren can learn from. TRADE 2: Take on Wiggins' salary (~28M/2yr+1 player option) from the Warriors for future assets. Buy low on a solid forward who can space the court and defend to help you improve in the short term. TRADE 3: If Ivey wasn't in any of the above trades, you probably still need to move him for future assets. FREE AGENCY 1: You have about 15M-18M left after absorbing those contracts. Go get a veteran 3 and D wing like KCP, Trent Jr, Bruce Brown, etc. Another option here is, if you believe in Grimes as your future KCP, just keep him and use that 15-18M to absorb another contract like THJ for more future assets. FREE AGENCY 2: You can re-sign Fontecchio after all of that since you own his rights. Do so. DUREN: You can decide Duren's fate closer to the deadline. Maybe by mid-season he's starting again if he develops his defense. Maybe he's on the trade block. Either way, you've moved him to more of a developmental role and limited your worry about having to extend him for big money. LINEUP: PG - Cade, Carter SG - KCP (or THJ/Grimes), Carter SF - Wiggins, Ausar PF - Tek, Stewart C - Capella, Duren, Stewart YEAR ONE: You've added shooting, defense, vets who can play, and created a roster that makes sense on the court. Other than Cade, your youngsters are developing off the bench and not relied upon as heavily. Hopefully, you've also added a better coach. This is a 28-32 win team in the East, just outside of the play-in. You've shown improvement and gained about 5 future assets, while still getting a good pick in the 2025 draft. YEAR TWO: -Option 1: If Cade (and the other youngsters) are developing into something special, you're now fighting for a play-in spot. At the trade deadline or during the off-season, you start exploring trades to use the assets you've accumulated and Wiggins expiring contract to bring in a second star. -Option 2: If Cade (and others) didn't develop as you'd hoped, then you've got a head start on the rebuild. You don't have any long term contracts besides Cade and you've already started accumulating draft assets for the future.

That's an insane overpay. But, I get it. When you feel like you're this close, you got to for it and Bridges is a great piece for that team.

Corporate titles aside, I'm guessing this guy is essentially the GM, right?

Well, he's got my player at #5. This is the guy who thought Killian was James Harden, so I guess I need to starting my pick now.

Hunter was about giving someone an extension before you know what they are and then regretting it later because he's clearly overpaid. That'll be Scotty Barnes in a couple years. I hope it's not Cade.

You gain another year of seeing the player perform before giving them a guaranteed 25% of your cap that could hamper your team for years to come. You also get to see what the market price is for him as a RFA the next year. On the other hand, what am I gaining by giving the contract early? Not hurting his feelings? This era of basketball is so pampered. Not that any team has the guts to do it that way anymore since this has become the norm. Just makes me shake my head. I guess it's good for teams like the Pistons, because it means there are contracts like De'Andre Hunter out there that we can absorb for assets as a result of these bad business practices becoming the norm. I just hope Cade doesn't become one of those contracts after we max him this summer even though we won 14 games, he's played a total of 138 games in 3 years, and he hasn't even sniffed an All-Star game. As for Scotty, he's made 1 All-Star game so maybe you can justify it, but averaging less than 20 ppg game on low efficiency in today's NBA? Meh. I feel like 20 ppg is the new 15 ppg. That's not a franchise player.

Was this always a thing in the NBA? Guys getting extended with max contracts before they've proven anything and before their contract is up? My memory is getting hazy in my old age, but I can't recall that always being the practice before the entitlement era of the NBA. Is Scotty a max player? Is Cade? Desmond Bane? Maybe. What's the downside of just paying him next year when his contract is actually due? He's restricted, so it's not like you can lose him. Are they just worried about hurting his feelings? I get extending a proven All-Star, but throwing around 25% of your cap on a guaranteed contract based on potential is a lot to gamble. What's next, Jaden Ivey and Jalen Duren expecting max contracts next season? Ausar the year after? How about you make an All-Star game before we give you a max.

Apparently we weren't interviewing him anyway, but it still makes me sad. Now go out and get Chris Quinn.

This is where I'm at. I'm not worried about Cade asking out. If we can use some of our cap space to acquire guys on bloated contracts that can play and bring in future assets with them (Wiggins, Capella, etc), this team can easily double their win total (28). The following year, with any development from your youth you should be pushing for a play-in spot. If the youth didn't develop, you're restarting anyway so it's good you got some assets. If they did develop and Cade took an SGA leap, then you can go get your co-star with those assets and some consolidation moves.

Guess I'm just not that enamored with Green. I feel like there are a number of those guys available in every free agent market. I'd rather have a war chest of future picks to package for an All-Star in a year or two.

There are a bunch of teams who really want Clingan. If he falls to 5, I'm shopping the pick to move down and acquire some future assets.

I'd rather have THJ and the pick. Hardaway is an expiring and we need to gather up some future picks for a deal (or another rebuild) down the line.

Carter's still my guy. I'm expecting us to move down in the draft, so maybe you get him a few picks later, but honestly I might just take him at 5 in this draft if Sarr, Risacher, and Sheppard are off the board as expected. Here's Sam talking about him in a recent video:

I get where you're coming from, and for another team I'd agree. But for the Pistons at that time, it was a terrible move. Weaver should have been acquiring draft picks in the first year of his rebuild, not locking them up to bring in bench role players. That's even before we get into the discussion of whether or not he'd have been there at 19 anyway, not to mention the fact that he was picked before guys like Maxey and Bane. I think there's a world where they can take on some contract to acquire assets now and still improve with Cade before taking the next step in a year or two. Just improving to 30 games would be a massive leap and create an environment where you can truly evaluate these young guys. First, I think there's probably a 75% chance they trade down in the draft based upon what Langdon said and what I've heard about them not working out many guys in the #5 range. That's one way to acquire future draft capital. Then, in addition to Simmons and Lavine (who I do NOT want), Jack Kelly tweeted out a few names including Wiggins (3yrs/84M), Hardaway (1yr/16M), Hunter (3yrs/68M), Capela (1yr/22M), and Huerter (2yr/33M). I'd add Grant to that list as well. Those guys can still contribute to your team even though they're on bloated contracts that their current teams need to shed. You could easily take on 1 (or even 2) of those contracts and still have the cap space to go after a free agent like Claxton or two lesser free agents. So, while I agree that Lavine is a bad move, I think there's a way to use some of the cap and this year's draft pick to fill up the war chest while improving the team in the short term. Then in a year or two you can use those assets and some players to make a splash that will shoot you up the standings.