Losing will always make fans look for someone to blame. Someone to fire. Even if losing was part of the long-term plan, fans tend to lose sight of that when they struggle to think of more than five wins in nine months.
Such is the current situation that Troy Weaver is a part of, or it would be if he paid attention to Twitter. There is no indication that there is any actual heat under his seat. But the Pistons’ faithful have expressed their exasperation with the third 11-plus game losing streak since last season’s deadline. With this kind of losing, questions arise.
Is this Weaver’s fault? That is the question of the season if not this generation of Detroit basketball.
Questioning the Vision
It has been the case for a while that fans have questioned what exactly Troy Weaver is working towards. Sure, there were the jokes across the league about Weaver having a roster full of centers, yet when Duren got injured this season, the team was suddenly playing quite small. So what is the vision?
As basic as it is, talent is the vision. Two-way talent more specifically. Weaver wants to cultivate a culture with elite defensive acumen, athletic expertise, and good humans. He wants players who will come in every day and put in the work. Be accountable. Want to get better and improve their team and community. For many organizations, this would feel like a cliche at best. For a man who drops a creative cliche when given the opportunity (like talking about Halle Berry at church and the grocery store), it is who he truly is.
So while this rebuild is in the beginning stages of its fourth season, Weaver should be judged on those merits, given that that is what he was hired to do. This roster has clearly not taken the turn into contention, so assessing those goals matters. Yes, fans want the play-in, playoffs, and more. But if that was not the actual organization’s objective, those stakes do not really matter.
Nailing the Draft
The easiest part of Weaver’s job to assess has been drafting. This was his area of expertise when he was a part of the Oklahoma City Thunder franchise. So far, it is hard to argue with his success. His draft picks are as follows:
- 2020 seventh pick – Killian Hayes
- 2020 16th pick – Isaiah Stewart
- 2020 19th pick – Saddiq Bey
- 2020 38th pick – Saben Lee
- 2021 first pick – Cade Cunningham
- 2021 42nd pick – Isaiah Livers
- 2021 52nd pick – Luka Garza
- 2021 57th pick – Balsa Koprivca
- 2022 fifth pick – Jaden Ivey
- 2022 13th pick – Jalen Duren
- 2022 36th pick – Gabriele Procida
- 2023 fifth pick – Ausar Thompson
- 2023 25th pick – Marcus Sasser
For anyone counting at home, that is five first-round picks to make All-Rookie teams, with this year’s two looking on track to add to the total. Cunningham and Duren look like future All-Stars. Ivey does too on certain nights. Thompson has been astounding defensively in his month. Isaiah Livers was a second-round pick and looks like a cemented rotation player when healthy.
The Foundation
For anyone expecting Cade Cunningham to come in and be an All-NBA level floor raiser this season on a consistent basis was likely putting the fan in fanatic. He just recently passed a full season’s worth of games played and is adjusting to a rod in his leg. Yes, the flashes of brilliance are exciting. Against the Indiana Pacers on November 24, Cade had an 18-point quarter as he was finally not facing two to three blitzing defenders per possession. Getting turnovers under control is his biggest hurdle, and he knows it.
When Duren has been on the court, Detroit is a noticeably better team. During the first couple weeks of the season, the Pistons were roughly middle of the pack defensively despite starting an entire lineup of players 22 or younger. Once Duren went out with his nagging injuries, the team fell to 27th. This is not an accident. While JD still needs to refine his skills, he provides a foundation for the rest of the team to fall back on.
Further cementing that foundation, Weaver nailed selecting Ausar Thompson with the fifth overall pick in this year’s draft. Thompson has already proven to be an elite defender and rebounds better than most bigs in the league. He is currently tied for sixth (with teammate Jalen Duren) in offensive rebounds. With solid playmaking instincts, the only thing that needs to come together is any ability to score. Ausar can get to the rim, but conversion remains a problem.
Bonus Points
If you can have a three-year rebuild (because that is all you can assess Weaver on to this point) having selections like Jaden Ivey, Isaiah Stewart, Saddiq Bey, Isaiah Livers, and Marcus Sasser being secondary really bolsters the resume.
Stewart, to many, is the heart and soul of this team. In a perfect situation (one that involves a healthy Bogdanovic perhaps?), Stewart would be the big off the bench who provides defensive upside and the ability to space the floor. So far this season, the promise of a shot is finally being realized, converting at a 41.4 percent clip on more than three attempts per game. If this sustains, defenses will be forced to respect him out there, creating additional driving lanes for Cade, Ausar, and Jaden Ivey.
Ivey, for his part, has had the toughest task this season. Monty Williams singled him out as the player with the most bad habits that he required to be corrected. This led to him coming off the bench for the first few weeks and Twitter being in an uproar, firing up the trade machine. The vision started to pay off, though.
Williams insisted that Ivey would have to improve his decision-making on both sides of the court to see an increased role. Nights like this (while also going off for 25 points) build confidence for both player and coach that the process is working.
Livers has only been back for a few games but he is the ideal floor spacer for a team desperately in need of wing spacing and defense. Marcus Sasser has been a homerun for a pick in the 20s, and for more on him check out Charlie Cummings’ recent article.
The Elephant in the Room
Killian Hayes has been a point of contention, and the ever-ascending star of Tyrese Haliburton has only made the comparison more glaring. Hayes is the only first-round pick for Weaver so far that feels like a miss, so naturally, he is the most discussed.
Hayes being a starter for much of this season to date is about more than coaching stubbornness, though. Accountability has been essential and Ivey needed to prove that he could break some of his bad habits. For better or worse, those bad habits are things Hayes does not have. He averages less than a turnover per game (Ivey averages more than two per game, Cade nearly five) and he is an attentive defender. Stardom may not be in the cards, but Hayes certainly fills a role.
Yes, Hayes feels like a miss, considering players like Haliburton and Tyrese Maxey were in the same class. But most teams would look back at the pandemic draft with myriad questions that never had a chance to be answered. Since then, Weaver has lived up to his reputation as a drafter. Building a team beyond that, however, is more of a mixed bag.
Team Building
When Troy Weaver overturned the entire roster in his first year, fans should have known that he was going to be willing to build the team in his own vision. Aforementioned big man jokes aside, he has done just that. He has taken chances on reclamation projects. However, he has also shown the recognition that veterans are necessary to augment the young talent.
This year more than any, the pieces fit on paper. Plenty of youth. The veterans on the team are all efficient, unselfish, and willing to do what it takes to improve the team. So what has been the issue so far this season?
Excuses/Reasons
The most frustrating reaction for someone who is trying to be logical is one of pure emotion. At the beginning of the season, it was announced that Bojan Bogdanovic, Isaiah Livers, and Monte Morris would be out for at least three to four weeks. At the time, everyone acknowledged that things would be rough and that the team would struggle.
One month later, Livers has played 48 minutes. Bogdanovic has yet to return (maybe this week) and Morris had a setback that could keep him out closer to Valentine’s Day. Somehow, facing the exact struggles that the fans said they expected has come as a surprise to many. Removing three solid floor spacers and that take care of the basketball has led to a team ranking 21st in 3-point percentage and 29th in turnovers.
This, obviously is not Weaver’s fault. Nor is it on him that Alec Burks and Joe Harris have combined to miss 15 games through 16 games. Duren and Ivey have missed 11 combined. Everyone deals with injuries, but for a young team not considered by many to be deep this is not an excuse. It is a reason.
Troy’s Starting Point
It feels silly to have to reference this four years in, but when fans compare the state of the rebuild to their contemporaries there is an important context that far too often gets forgotten: the starting point.
Orlando was able to fast-track their rebuild by turning Nikola Vucevic into Wendell Carter Jr. and two future lottery picks. Oklahoma City and Houston turned multiple former All-NBA players into bounties of draft picks. Even Indiana was able to swap out one star for a younger, better one. Detroit did not have this luxury. The previous regime waived Reggie Jackson and traded Andre Drummond months before Weaver came to town, netting only a second-round pick in return.
Blake Griffin was the only “star” that Troy inherited, and he too necessitated a buyout to get out of town. The only “star” trade that Weaver was able to make was one of his own engineering. He believed in Jerami Grant when most of the league thought he overpaid and turned him into drafting Jalen Duren after two mostly positive seasons.
What Was Actually Available?
Yes, it would have been nice to use the cap space this past offseason to bolster this roster. It has been clearly stated that the core of Cade Cunningham, Jaden Ivey, Ausar Thompson, and Jalen Duren need help to make a push toward the play-in. Even if Bogdanovic, Burks, Livers, Morris, and the rest had been healthy for the entire season this roster was still depending fully on internal development to make that push. So who would have been available to grease the wheels to progression?
The unfortunate truth is likely, not much. Spending for the sake of spending could have led to throwing a max contract at Cam Johnson, or doing what Houston did, despite how much Fred VanVleet and Dillon Brooks would have stunted the reps for Ivey and Ausar Thompson. Beyond that, the free agent market last summer left plenty to be desired but not much to be had.
When you see the likes of the Memphis Grizzlies strike out on trades despite offering multiple first-round picks, it is tough to imagine what avenues Weaver failed to explore. Trading a first-round pick remains encumbered by the trade of a protected first for Stewart in 2020. Beyond that, who is the right player to go in for? Zach LaVine? Meh. Could it have made sense to try to overpay for someone like Kyle Kuzma or get in the market for a John Collins? Perhaps, but those opportunities will present themselves again.
So what is actually wrong?
On Court Concerns
Some of this is an on-court concern that you could attempt to blame Troy for, but at the end of the day, it falls on the players. If fans believe that Cade Cunningham, Jalen Duren, and others are impact players (which fans seem to agree on), then the blame ultimately should fall on them for some of the issues.
It made sense for Monty Williams to make Jaden Ivey break bad habits to earn his place on the court. Accountability while learning is what real organizations do. However, that also comes with growing pains.
Fans would ask, “Is the defense improved enough with Killian Hayes starting over Jaden Ivey” as if the single-game results were the most important thing. Bringing in a coach on a record-breaking contract for six seasons is about the long haul, not the first month on the job. Given that the young players are showing signs of improvement already while learning a new scheme is that evidence.
There are other rotation questions that many will ask, sure they know better than the career coach. Such is life for a franchise in the midst of its third 11-plus-game losing streak in 2023. But the process is still understandable on the whole.
Is Troy blameless? No, no one in the league does a perfect job and there have been missteps. Making the move for James Wiseman was a gamble, and it did not pay off. There are still some fit questions surrounding the young core of this roster. However, many believe that you take the best available player when you had been this bad and figure the fit out as you go along.
Where We Stand Today
Personally, there is no real rush, despite the fan base’s outcry. It is preferable for Troy Weaver to not rush into a trade or signing just for minimal short-term gains. If the right move presents itself, absolutely. Maximizing Cade Cunningham, specifically, is the most important task that has faced this franchise in 15 years.
So far, Weaver has done well. He has done very well with the draft. Signing Monty Williams was a coup at the time and so far, there is noticeable progress from the core young players despite the lack of wins.
Rebuilds take time. Most fanbases are not built for it. Even worse for Detroit, the restoration under Weaver comes after a decade of incompetence and mediocrity. Given that, fans are ready for something different, namely, winning. Weaver is on track to that, even if that includes at least one more top lottery selection. He has had mixed luck with the lottery. Landing the top pick in a draft with a player like Cade Cunningham, however, supersedes plenty of other factors.
Would things look different if, instead of sliding to fifth in consecutive drafts with top odds, Detroit was sitting with someone like Chet Holmgren, Paolo Banchero or Victor Wembanyama, or Brandon Miller? Sure. Would fans be able to hold onto a vision more fully formed had something completely out of the control of their general manager bounded differently? Indeed.
Twitter is for overreactions and those will not be going anywhere. With any luck, neither will Troy Weaver. His vision makes sense if you can stop the Twitter fingers to think.
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