With a flurry of pre-and-post-draft moves, Troy Weaver has put his stamp all over the Detroit Pistons franchise, and he’s done it in record time. If you followed Pistons basketball last season but have been preoccupied with other things since March, you won’t recognize the squad that Detroit trots out there on (unofficially) December 22.

Maybe we should just rename the team to reflect the onslaught of deals the new GM has pulled off in the past week-plus. My submission is the D’Troy Pistons. No need to fully commit today, let’s just workshop it for a while and see where the creativity flows.

This post will serve as part two of the Pistons roster upheaval and will dive into post-draft movement and free agency. Part one covered the lead-up and analysis of the NBA Draft, of which the Pistons kinda stole the show despite originally heading into draft season with only one selection.

As in part one, we will start with a little roll call to recap who has come, who has gone, and who has come and gone.

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IN: PG Killian Hayes (Pick No. 7 – France/Germany) | C Isaiah Stewart (Pick No. 16 – Washington) | SF Saddiq Bey (Pick No. 19 – Villanova) | PG Saben Lee (Pick No. 38 – Vanderbilt) | F Jerami Grant | PG Delon Wright | C Jahlil Okafor | C Mason Plumlee | SF Daznan Musa | SF Josh Jackson | SG Wayne Ellington | G/F Zhaire Smith | G Jaylen Hands | G Nikola Radeicevic

Out: SG Luke Kennard | SG Bruce Brown | PF Christian Wood (come back)| SF Tony Snell | SG Langston Galloway | PG Khyri Thomas | PG Brandon Knight | C John Henson | SG Jordan McRae | PG Jordan Bone | C Thon Maker | C Justin Patton

IN-N-OUT Burger: SF Trevor Ariza | C Tony Bradley | C Dewayne Dedmon

When we last saw our heroes they were emerging from the cave of “Hey, everyone is saying what a good draft we had! Neat!“, and headed towards the enchanted free agent forest. Would Troy Weaver stay true to his rebuilding intuition? Or would the temptation to buy some shiny new toys prove too tantalizing to resist? Onward in our rebuilding adventure.

*This is organized in the order that these events went down for added context, not in order of importance/impact.

Pistons sign C Mason Plumlee to 3 yr $25 million deal

Plumlee is a serviceable NBA player. He should be a high-level backup big man on a contending team, which is basically what he has been the past several years in Denver. In Detroit, he will likely be a low-level starter, and based on that dollar amount we will be seeing plenty of him regardless of how the starting lineup shakes out come December.

The obvious question is, of course, why Plumlee? Why is Weaver paying significant money to a medium-floor low-ceiling (the floor can be higher than the ceiling in my world) center on the wrong side of 30 instead of taking a shot at a player with more upside? Perhaps a younger player that may be entering his prime when this team turns the corner rather than entering retirement age?

Turns out the writing was on the wall all along.

After Weaver took his post this summer he made it clear that he didn’t want his franchise to be a doormat, despite tanking being all the rebuilding rage. He reiterated this sentiment into the month of November. Plumlee might not move the needle in the win column, but he could make some of the losses much more competitive. Plumlee plays hard and smart, and is known as a guy who will accept any role with a smile and simply do his job. He is a low maintenance, set-it-and-forget-it kind of player that will help balance out the youth movement.

On top of that, Plumlee just might be the perfect stopgap big man for the development of Killian Hayes. Plumlee’s above-average passing and skills in the lob game will give Hayes a much-needed safety net to keep the offense flowing.

My instant reaction to this signing is very different from how I now view it. I still don’t love the dollar amount, but I am now fully behind this pickup from a stylistic standpoint. There’s always a place for steady-Eddie.

Pistons sign C Jahlil Okafor for 2 yrs (vet minimum)

That’s more like it, Troy.

The No. 3 pick in the 2015 draft has crashed and burned since his promising rookie season in Philly. He’s a guy no one wants to pay or commit to long-term, but plenty want to take a flyer on. He hasn’t played consistent minutes since the 2016-17 season but shows flashes whenever an injury thrusts him into a starting role.

Do me a favor and check out Okafor’s 2019-20 game log. From the start of 2020 until the end of the season you will find a whole lot of single-digit minute games and “did not play/dress” designations. But on 1/13/20, against your Detroit Pistons, Okafor drew the start and dropped 25 points on Andre Drummond. He’s not a great rebounder…but he had 14 on this night. Certainly not a ball-handling big…but dropped 5 dimes on this night. Regarded as a porous defender…but had 3 blocks on this night.

Ok, that was mostly Drummond shade rather than an Okafor endorsement. I just can’t let the last eight years go. But Okafor flashed his entire arsenal in the above clip, and it’s worth a dart throw to see if he can consistently play like this with either a) a locker room/culture change (Weaver is putting a major emphasis on acquiring “character” guys), or b) consistent minutes.

If he hits, you just created a trade chip using money you found in the pair of jeans at the bottom of the drawer. If not, you have a guy you can throw out there if you need to lose a bunch of games at the end of the season to get some extra lottery balls.

Keep moves like this coming, Troy.

Pistons sign SF Josh Jackson (contract details not yet announced, but he’s cheap)

Another post-hype project for Weaver and company with the signing of Jackson, the No. 4 pick in the 2017 draft and Detroit native.

Jackson has some stuff to work on. His career slash line of .417/.298/.655 is…unsightly. His laundry list of off-court issues is…not ideal. But somewhere underneath all that mess is a guy from a basketball factory (Kansas) who was considered the top wing and one of the most well-rounded players in the 2017 class.

He dominated the competition after a demotion to the G League last season and came out the other side as the most efficient version of his NBA self. If he can build on that on-court momentum and stay out of trouble off of it, this will have been another well-aimed dart. If not, no cap harm done.

Troy Weaver seemed to be hitting a bit of a free agency stride after the signings of Okafor and Jackson. And he still had plenty left in the kitty to re-sign Christian Wood at this stage of the game. But all that went up in smoke after Weaver broke the bank for…

Pistons sign F Jerami Grant to 3 yr $60 million deal

Let’s just go ahead and make it official…

Rockets signs PF Christian Wood to 3 yr $41 million deal

Goodbye, my guy.

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*The Grant and Wood signings technically go in the books as sign-and-trade deals.

Jerami Grant is a very good basketball player. The 26-year-old fits the Weaver mold perfectly as a highly versatile forward with a massive wingspan (7’2″). He transformed from a guy with limited range to one of the more accurate 3pt shooters in the league the past two seasons. He’s an athletic freak who is an aggressive finisher at the rim.

On the defensive side of the ball, I’ll just leave this breakdown here. Courtesy of The Ringer:

“The best way to see Grant’s value is to look at the players he defended in the playoffs. Per NBA Advanced Stats, Grant’s three most frequent assignments were Kawhi Leonard, Donovan Mitchell, and LeBron James. Anthony Davis was no. 5, and Paul George was no. 7...and there is no real list for players with that kind of defensive versatility who can also shoot as well as Grant did from 3 last season (38.8 percent on 3.5 attempts per game).

With all that being said…give me Christian Wood over Grant. In fact, I would take Wood over Grant regardless of the contact structure. The extra $6-plus million annually in potential savings would have just been icing on the cake.

That ringing endorsement (you know, cuz it was from The Ringer) absolutely highlights why Grant has become one of the premier 3&D role players in the game. Denver, who reportedly matched Detroit’s offer, will not be able to replace Grant’s contributions and very well could fall back a tier in the overall NBA power structure. But Denver’s loss may not equal Detroit’s gain for a variety of reasons.

Unfortunately, unless Blake Griffin and Derrick Rose stay healthy, turn in All-Star caliber performances, and don’t get traded, Grant won’t be guarding anyone in the playoffs anytime soon. The Pistons are still very much in “find a star” mode, and Grant offers very little chance of becoming the face of the franchise.

Wood comes with some bust potential due to his small sample size of high-level play and concerns over how he will respond to his first big paycheck (not concerns of mine, but plausible). But he also offers star potential which Houston just poached for less than $14 million per year.

Put it this way: I think Grant’s value to the Detroit Pistons is closer to the contract Wood just signed, while Wood’s upside warranted the contract that Grant just signed.

If you think my judgment is clouded because I am an unabashed Christian Wood slappy…you may have a point. Allow me to bring in some unbiased third-party observations courtesy of The Timeline: a Phoenix Suns Podcast, who offer two excellent free agency scouting reports of Grant and Wood.

These breakdowns reassured me that there is a lot to like about Grant’s game. I was happy to learn that he may be an analytics defying player after finding him buried on certain metrics I have put previous stock in. I watched every minute of Wood growing (wink wink) last season, so these clips were just a nice trip down memory lane for me. But the TL;DW summary of these videos comes in the final minute of the Wood breakdown, where the host says point-blank “Wood is the No. 1 target for the Suns this offseason”.

It’s still unclear exactly why the C-Wood era came to a close in Detroit. Would things have played out differently had Weaver, who took the helm in June, had a front row seat to Wood’s coming out party like the rest of us? Did Weaver have a hard number he was willing to offer Wood and simply refused to budge, knowing he actually wanted to reunite with Grant (whom he and GM Sam Presti traded for/away in OKC)? Did Wood secretly want out of Detroit?

That last one might be the real answer, considering he was asking for advice on where to take his talents on IG last month. But even if Wood did want out, he’s not really in a position to turn down the highest bidder considering he’s already 25 and has earned south of $5 million over his five NBA seasons. As the kids would say, “C.R.E.A.M.” (kids still say that, right?).

You’d have to imagine an offer of $15 million per – totally reasonable and quite possibly still a bargain – would have been accepted. What god-fearing man wants an annual salary that ends with a .666 anyway?

I know I’m focusing too much on Wood and not enough on Grant here. But this really feels like a missed opportunity to add to the lore that the “Goin’ to work” Pistons established in the early 2000s. Unheralded journeyman gets his first real opportunity in Detroit and flourishes. Fair or not, it’s now up to Grant to prove that Weaver made the right decision giving him more than twice as much money as any Piston not named Blake Griffin.

Delon Wright traded to Detroit in three team deal

Why doesn’t anyone want to keep this guy?

Delon Wright, of fantasy basketball “pickups of the week” fame, has been dealt three times in less than two years. Detroit will be Wright’s fourth stop in just six seasons. Which is strange because…the guy is a pretty good player, who is pretty good at a lot of things.

Wright doesn’t need a lot of minutes to be effective, but he can absolutely stuff a box score when given his share. He has come off the bench for nearly 90% of his 271 career games, but his brief run as a starter in Memphis in 2018-19 saw him post 3 triple-doubles in a four-game span. Dallas returned him to his 20-ish minute bench role last season, and Wright responded by posting some of the most efficient scoring of his career, despite a career-low usage-rate.

Long story short: everyone needs a Delon Wright. If Derrick Rose gets traded and/or Dwane Casey doesn’t want Killian Hayes thrown into a featured role as a rookie, Wright can be trusted to run a competent offense. He is a versatile player with a versatile contract if a needy team comes-a-calling at the trade deadline.

*The outgoing Detroit piece in this deal was Trevor Ariza

Housekeeping

A quick rundown of the Pistons’ remaining transactions to put a bow on all this madness.

Don’t forget to stretch

One of the earliest post-draft moves Weaver pulled the trigger on was trading for Atlanta C Dewayne Dedmon, shipping out SF Tony Snell and PG Khyri Thomas. The 31-year-old Dedmon has since been waived, proving that this was merely a trade to facilitate trimming the fat on the roster.

Noteworthy here is that Dedmon’s $14 million in guaranteed money will be stretched over the course of the next five seasons, with a cap hit of just under $3 million on the Pistons’ books until 2024-25.

My concern here is why the Pistons are kicking the can down rebuild road when now is the time you are supposed to be eating bad contracts? I’m no cap-ologist, but I can think of a way the Pistons could have fit the entirety of Dedmon’s money into the rebuild window and kept the books clean for when it’s time to compete for the playoffs.

Ah, the trickle-down effect of signing Jerami Grant instead of Christian Wood for a fraction of the cost.

Pistons trade C Tony Bradley to Philadelphia for PG Zhaire Smith

Bradley was the guy the Pistons acquired from Utah in a mid-draft trade (along with No. 38 pick Saben Lee) in exchange for “future considerations”. Smith was a player that was linked to a potential Derrick Rose deal at last year’s deadline.

Smith is also rumored to be waived, so we will hold off on getting to know him yet. Though it would be odd to part with a 21-year-old player just two years removed from being drafted 16th overall without first kicking the tires. What do you have to lose?

Pistons sign SG Wayne Ellington to 1 yr $2.6 million deal

The journeyman long-gunner returns for his second stint in Detroit, and I am happier than I probably should be with the news. I’ve just always liked the guy.

Ellington was a member of the last Pistons squad to make the playoffs (2018-19) and, quite frankly, he was one of the only players worth a damn down the stretch that season as the ‘Stones slipped in the standings. The team barely hung on to the 8th seed, earning themselves the right to get their trousers pulled down by Giannis and the Bucks.

He’s 33-years-old and has been on nine teams in 11 seasons. But you can never have enough shooters or good locker room guys, and Ellington checks both boxes.

Final thoughts

This offseason had A LOT goin’ on. There was no chance that I would agree with every move Troy Weaver made, because he made all the moves. That said, I am happy with the overall direction of the team now that most of the dust has settled.

The draft looks like a real bright spot. I always take a hard stance against draft grading (haven’t heard from all the people who gave former Lions GM Bob Quinn A’s across the board lately) because we simply won’t know anything until these guys actually start producing on NBA courts. But I love the disparate skillsets and diverse roles that the rookie class offers, and I am really interested to see their development this season.

Love the low-risk, high-reward reclaimation projects that Weaver took on in the signings of Okafor and Jackson, and balancing those with high-floor steady vets in Wright and Ellington will help keep things on the rails.

Don’t love letting Christian Wood walk. This will be a bad look for Weaver if Wood turns his small sample of high-level play in Detroit into a big sample in Houston.

Don’t love the contracts, but I do love the games of Jerami Grant and Mason Plumlee. And this leads into the biggest reason why I am pleased with work Troy Weaver has done this offseason:

This team isn’t going to win a lot, but they should be fun to watch. This is a squad of guys who play hard and have “Detroit basketball” written all over them. This might sound cliche, but it is so important for fan engagement and establishing your brand that the product matches the identity of its audience. These quotes from Dwane Casey regarding the incoming rookie class sum up what I mean. From MLive:

“These guys fit Detroit basketball,” Casey said. “They’re hard-playing, hard- charging. They’re a good character guys but they’ll knock you on your butt when it comes time to.”

I eat stuff like this up. Every sorry ass team in this town talks about establishing a culture, but the words largely ring hollow. I may be taking the bait here, but I believe in the message this front office is selling.

We won’t see it reflected in the win/loss column for a while, but I think this team is going to play a refreshing brand of basketball from the jump.

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