2022 Pistons Offseason

[Betrayer]

I'd definitely be concerned with injury risk, but the Pistons won't be in the mix for a top three pick unless they get very lucky with lottery odds. I expect they'll wind up in the 7th-10th pick range this season.

[RandyMarsh]

Well the Bogdanovic trade is now official. Lee, Olynyk plus cash for Bogdan. 

[Deleterious]

This has the makings of a classic NBA rule change.  Enforced hard core until about Christmas, then forgotten.  

 

[Betrayer]

This could be a drinking game every time he says the word "legitimate". 

This is so muddy and even in that video some of those looked like they could be called the other way (Rozier grabbing Brown's shorts from behind isn't giving up on the play?). I know they're trying to increase scoring and create more exciting plays, but this is just going to slow the game down more with reviews that take forever and more free throws just like the clear path foul does.

[Deleterious]

No tough decisions here.  Killian obviously sucks but I hear he makes a mean crêpe.  So it was worth keeping him another year.

 

[Betrayer]

Some notes from media day:

Nerlens Noel is still dealing with plantar fasciitis (apparently it flared up in February of last season). He also said his goal is to be the DPoY - um, sure. Anyway, he'll be limited and is already starting off injured as we all expected. He did have some cool quotes about his love for Ben Wallace though.

Alec Burks is recovering from a navicular fracture and is going to be re-evaluated in three weeks. That means he'll miss all of pre-season and will just be getting back to it around the start of the regular season. Could mean more minutes for Hami (or CoJo/McGruder), but may be good news for those of us who want to end the debate of whether Ivey is in the starting lineup or not. JEIII mentioned that there's talk about whether or not the Knicks were a bit shady in disclosing the full details of Burks health situation to the Pistons, but that he thinks the deal would have gone down anyway.

Best quote came from Jaden Ivey, "I want to be a Piston for life. It runs deep."

Reports are that Cade Cunningham has put on about 10lbs of muscle in the offseason. Casey said he, "looks like a different dude than last year."

Saddiq Bey reportedly look more trim, although he told JEIII he hasn't lost any weight, he's just reduced his body fat percentage with his offseason regiment (he's been training in Colorado for the high altitude)

Weaver talked more about the team being "at ground zero", after digging out of a hole for the first couple years. He finally feels like they have a "full complement of players." Previously they were figuring out who was going to stay or go, fixing the books, getting young talent, and finding good vets. Now he feels like things are stable, with a complete roster, and they can start going up from here.

Casey said they're "Still in growth mode, but ready to compete at a higher level." He said that being young is no longer an excuse. Guys have to come to play. Nobody talked playoffs, but they also aren't trying to go out there and fight for last place this year. The Bojan move already told us that, but Casey reinforced the message.

A lot of talk about how these guys all genuinely like each other and hang out together. Not just them, but their families as well. Feels like a real team and almost a college comradery type of vibe. Cool stuff. This came from most of the guys, but a lot of Bagley and Livers comments especially.

From JEIII - Bojan will start day 1 and he's taking the over on Jaden Ivey starting as well.

Killian got a lot of tough questions thrown at him and he had some interesting answers that acknowledged his need to be more aggressive on offense. He also talked about how he's been working hard on his jump shot and tweaked a few things as well.

Stewart confirmed that he will be taking a lot more threes this year and said he's been studying a lot of Al Horford to see how he can be effective as a big man who can play the 4 or the 5, hit outside shots, and make the right reads.

 

 

 

 

 

[1984Echoes]

Good stuff...!

[RandyMarsh]

I think we would've covered our entire card if we were playing "NBA Media Day Bingo", nailed all the good cliches.

Edited September 27, 2022 by RandyMarsh

[sabretooth]

Hopefully Burks is back and healthy when expected.

[buddha]

killian's shot - and lack of aggressiveness - looked the same in summer league.

[Tigeraholic1]

On 9/13/2022 at 1:12 PM, Betrayer said:

I did this as well. I think they send out the codes on Sept 27th...but league pass renews on the 29th. I'm guessing if you're not quick about putting the code in then your league pass will renew and charge you before you get the chance. Not exactly sure, but something to watch out for.

Got an email last week to remind of the renew or cancel was able to cancel. Got my code today, all set and ready for the season! Thanks for the heads up.

[Betrayer]

17 hours ago, Tigeraholic1 said:

Got an email last week to remind of the renew or cancel was able to cancel. Got my code today, all set and ready for the season! Thanks for the heads up.

Awesome, got mine as well and it worked after I realized they screwed up the email by saying we should select "monthly" when in fact they meant we should select "annual".

[Deleterious]

 

[Deleterious]

Not a shock since he came from Milwaukee and that is the defense they play.  Lebron will play the Lopez role of dropping while AD can sort of fill the Giannis role of a big who can switch on the perimeter.  But do they have other perimeter defenders who can switch and chase 3PT shooters off the line?  Other than Pat Bev I don't think so.  Teams are going to rain 3 pointers down on the Lakers.  

 

[buddha]

AD is going to hustle on the perimeter?  lol.  in what world?

the first time he tries to change direction he'll pull a muscle and be out for a month.

[casimir]

 

[RandyMarsh]

Kevin Pelton of ESPN's system has us at a league worst 25.7 wins. I personally think we will be around 30 but 25 is certainly a possibility. I don't see us finishing dead last though, there will be some team(likely okc) that will completely tank and only win like 15 or so games. 

[Deleterious]

Yeah they won't be last assuming they are relatively healthy. But this is not a good team.

They traded their second best player and replaced him with an 18 year old kid who won't play meaningful minutes this year.  That isn't a knock on Weaver, he made the absolute correct move there. But it will most likely bring some short term pain.

[RandyMarsh]

I originally thought the loss of Grant would be a net positive cause it "seemed" like they played worse with him in the lineup but over the summer I looked at our best lineups and from what I saw most featured him. 

[Betrayer]

The Pistons were better without Grant and it's not close.

--> Overall: 11-36 (.234) with Grant, but 12-23 (.343) without him
--> Since Jan 1: 7-16 (.304) with Grant, but 11-15 (.423) without him

That over 10% better without Grant in either slice which amounts to about 8 wins on an entire season. Individual players were also better and more efficient without Grant (take a look at Saddiq's splits, for instance).

They also didn't replace him with an 18 year old. Let's be real here, the 18 year old replaced Luka Garza. Maybe he'll be good enough out of the gate to get minutes, but we'll see.

The person replacing Grant is Bojan and he's an upgrade. Say what you will about Bojan's defense, but I watched every game last year and Grant rarely brought his defense to the court. The difference there will be negligible, and they both average the same number of rebounds (about 4).

The big difference is that Bojan is a clear upgrade as a scorer, both off the catch and off the dribble. Higher percentages, better efficiency, and on higher volume.

All Jump Shots: 86th percentile
Off the Dribble: 85th percentile
Spot-Ups: 87th percentile
Pick n Roll Ballhandler - 91st percentile

But really, you just need one stat to illustrate the point: Grant took 126 shot from 16ft to less than 3pt range in just 47 games last season. Bojan took only 15 shots from that range in 69 games played. That's a guy who understands what an efficient shot is in the NBA.

New youth or not, this team got better in the offseason, partly because of the Grant trade.

[1984Echoes]

I think Livers is also going to absorb quite a few minutes there...

And you can say exactly the same thing about Livers as said about Bojan...

[Deleterious]

Scoot and Victor both playing well so far tonight.  Whatever team drafts #2 is going to get a steal in Scoot.  Especially if he fixes his shooting.

Best part of the game.  Victor has a teammate whose name is, Steeve Ho You Fat so the back of his jersey says, Ho You Fat.

[Deleterious]

Nice to see him do it against this competition.

 

[Deleterious]

Great performances from both guys tonight.

Victor ends up with 37 points on 7-11 from three with 5 blocks.  Scoot had 28 points with 9 assists and 2 steals.

19 out of 20 times Scoot is the #1 pick and frankly, it wouldn't be close most years.  You get a real DRose before the injuries vibe from him.  

What a great year to tank.  You have a shot at two fantastic prospects.  

[buddha]

pistons will go on a late season run and pick third.