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Pistons have the most cap space in the league this summer. They’ve got a very young core but need to get some vets that can play. Rough depth chart for next year

Cade/Sassar
Ivey/Grimes
Ausar/Fontecchio
Stewart/
Duren/Wisemen

Sportac says $72-78M in cap space, but Fonteccio and Wiseman need to get extensions.

So free agents? Draft pick (+salary)? Trades? Troy can’t f—- this up. Can you help?

If you could steal Claxton from Brooklyn, that would be awesome.

TYIA

theBigLip wrote:Wiseman need to get extensions.

I'd start by telling him this simply isn't true.

Fontecchio is going to be looking at his one large payday of his NBA career [In all likelihood]. Detroit should look at going shorter and more money to keep him.

What will he command? Well, I think Detroit could try to "Bruce Brown" him rather than "P.J. Washington", especially because no upside is baked into the deal. Shorter with more control on Detroits size, at a larger cap, compared to longer and less value APY.

Texas Chuck wrote:

theBigLip wrote:Wiseman need to get extensions.

I'd start by telling him this simply isn't true.

Yeah, come on Lip.

I get that he’s playing better but he’s still not the guy.

Bad teams don’t have as many guys worth keeping as this post in general suggests. And we’ve got a ways to go before we graduate to “bad”.

The next Detroit Pistons playoff team is going to feature very few current Detroit Pistons. Overpaying for a "splash" that fits the current team is unequivocally not the answer.

Just use all that cap space to absorb bad 1-2 year contracts plus draft picks, and then sign a few veterans to SHORT TERM CONTRACTS. In all caps, because the Pistons have signed average to terrible players to 4-5 year contracts every. single. time. that they have had cap space ever since Chauncey Billups left.

My team is guilty of it, Gordon Hayward was a cool signing on paper, but completely upended our rebuild in a year we needed to tank (2021 - imagine Franz Wagner or Jonathan Kuminga in place James Bouknight for instance), and then dragged us down because he couldn't stay healthy. Overpaying for DeMar DeRozan, Tobias Harris, DLo, or another "cool signing on paper" on a long-term contract does nothing for you.

Drill that into Troy Weaver's head and Detroit will have a successful offseason in the long run.

HornetJail wrote:Just use all that cap space to absorb bad 1-2 year contracts plus draft picks, and then sign a few veterans to SHORT TERM CONTRACTS. In all caps, because the Pistons have signed average to terrible players to 4-5 year contracts every. single. time. that they have had cap space ever since Chauncey Billups left.

This is more or less what the team has done for the last couple of years.

So…you can see how the approach feels a bit…not good.

Troy is a man guilty of a lot. His drafting on balance has not been good and his asset management has been abysmal but giving out crippling contracts isn’t one of his sins.

Hi Troy, it's D-Griff from the Pels. Here is a high-level 3pt spacing veteran leader on a descending 2 year contract, and we'll let you absorb him into your cap space. He helped our young stars take a leap in professionalism, and we know he can do the same for your up and coming Pistons squad. Bonus- he's the respected president of the players association, so he can bring some PR legitimacy to your franchise like he did with the Pels. Coach Willie Green will share stories of CJ with Monty, Green's mentor.

CJ McCullom to Pistons absorbed into cap space.
Would you like Nance, too, for some added veteran leadership? Perhaps Stewart can be involved to NOP for some pick exchange.

Could a 3rd.team be brought in to send some player(s) to Pels? Or maybe they open up just enough cap space to offer Hartenstein a deal more than what NYK can offer.

Duren/ Stewart
Ausar/ Risacher
Cade/ Fonteccino
CJ / Grimes
Ivey / Sasser

Move aside and let someone else handle Detroit this offseason ?

Don’t think Weaver will spend the money well.

Trade 1
(recover your selection).. M.Sasser to KNICKS for the FRP back..

Trade 2 (I get future assets) I.Stewart to the Clippers for PJ Tucker/Hyland + a future FRP....

Change your FRP this year for Lauri Markkanen.....

Sign Jalen Smith/N.Marshall at FA and bring back Fontecchio..

Duren/J.Smith /Wiseman
Lauri/Marshall/Tucker
Ausuar/Fontecchio
Ivey/Grimes
Cade/Hyland

I don’t love the CJM fit , but I do love that it’s only a two year deal and it’s declining. Maybe having CJM would help get Tobias to come and you have your two vets.. Assuming Harris//Bridges refuse to take my overpay..maybe J Grant reunion if it’s cheap enough?

I would try and be the team to end up with Harrison Barnes if Sac decides to upgrade him, say with Grant.. He won’t cost much to attain, is on a fair contract and is a solid vet that knows his role.

Simone is already 28 years old, but I think he’s a solid rotation wing that’s worth paying. I’d offer him something like 4yr56 full front loaded or 2yr36 If he turns both of those down, I’ll let him get an MLE-ish offer and match it, hes a RFA right?

Might call Toronto and offer a second or two for Brown despite him being really overpaid. If they turn that down, wait for them to let him walk and offer him like 2yr36..

So Brown and Barnes is my offseason because I don’t want to pay real assets for talent and all the better free agents turned me down. Sorry.

I don’t mind the offseason where you talk to Utah/Lauri. If tampering sounds like Lauri will take Sabonis’ deal in December.. I make that draft night trade and figure what else besides a top 3 pick needs to be added. Seen it suggested a couple times, don’t like rushing rebuilds but understand at a certain point you want to see the play-in/playoffs..

If Det eats CJ, Pels owe a fair amount of value to Detroit for taking that albatross on. Otherwise its a deal that only favors NO

Snakebites wrote:

Texas Chuck wrote:

theBigLip wrote:Wiseman need to get extensions.

I'd start by telling him this simply isn't true.

Yeah, come on Lip.

I get that he’s playing better but he’s still not the guy.

Bad teams don’t have as many guys worth keeping as this post in general suggests. And we’ve got a ways to go before we graduate to “bad”.

I should have phrased it that they are “up” for extensions although technically, Wiseman does “need” one as well

You don’t think he gets extended for cheap? He’s got a big cap hold ($30M) that is much more than he’ll get paid, so it will be one of the first things they take care of in the offseason, either extending or letting him walk.

I’d offer Wiseman 3yr27..if the last two years were fully unguaranteed. not from dallas* just in general. It’ll probably be a bad one year contract, but I think it’s worth the coin flip.

The big issue for the Pistons is that all of their core players are currently bad and it's not clear which of them will become good.

Ausar is probably a bust, but Ivey, Cade, and Duren all have hypothetical starter potential.

HornetJail wrote:The next Detroit Pistons playoff team is going to feature very few current Detroit Pistons. Overpaying for a "splash" that fits the current team is unequivocally not the answer.

Just use all that cap space to absorb bad 1-2 year contracts plus draft picks, and then sign a few veterans to SHORT TERM CONTRACTS. In all caps, because the Pistons have signed average to terrible players to 4-5 year contracts every. single. time. that they have had cap space ever since Chauncey Billups left.

This is easier said than done. At the end of the day, there simply aren't many bad contracts in the NBA and even fewer where teams will attach value to.

Ben Simmons -- No shot Brooklyn attaches value to an expiring this large
Jordan Poole -- Washington sucks, not attaching assets
John Collins -- Maybe you can get a couple 2nds?
DeAndre Ayton -- Doesn't make sense for Portland as they are bad and he helps in the P&R game with scoot's development
Zach LaVine -- I doubt CHicago moves him for negative value

See, who is going to attach assets to move bad money? Maybe a team wants to get out of the tax and trades a $5-10 Million Player + 2nd(s), but that's not going to eat up all of Detroit's cap space.

My team is guilty of it, Gordon Hayward was a cool signing on paper, but completely upended our rebuild in a year we needed to tank (2021 - imagine Franz Wagner or Jonathan Kuminga in place James Bouknight for instance), and then dragged us down because he couldn't stay healthy. Overpaying for DeMar DeRozan, Tobias Harris, DLo, or another "cool signing on paper" on a long-term contract does nothing for you.

I think Tobias Harris could help a lot. The team desperately lacks wings and has enough talent to start winning.

See, this is very different than the Charlotte situation. Charlotte was only really bad in 2019-2020, meaning that was their 1st year of a re-build following Kemba's departure. Then, the first off-season after they started rebuilding, they went after Gordon Hayward but lacked higher-end prospects.

Look at Detroit, who has been rebuilding for 5 years now. They have accumulated higher end prospects like Cade, Ivey, Durent and Ausar and then will be adding another piece this draft. They are ready to start competing and putting pieces around these guys as they start to develop in their 2nd, 3rd or 4th year.

Detroit needs to be looking at a team like Houston or Oklahoma City last year as a goal for 2024-2025, which is fighting for a Play-In, being competitive night-in and night-out and putting veteran pieces around their young core which complements their skill-set.

We already saw Detroit start doing this at the trade deadline with the acquisition of Fontecchio.

jayjaysee wrote:I’d offer Wiseman 3yr27..if the last two years were fully unguaranteed. not from dallas* just in general. It’ll probably be a bad one year contract, but I think it’s worth the coin flip.

The Jock Landale. I like it.

"The Pistons have enough talent to start winning" Jaden Ivey is probably the worst starting PG in the NBA other than Keyonte and Scoot Henderson while Jalen Duren is the worst defender in the NBA other than John Collins.

If Duren and Ivey develop brains and Cade learns how to shoot, then yes, the Pistons can win right now. The issue is that their core four guys all suck currently (Cade, Ivey, Duren, and Ausar) and the team won't be good until some of those guys are actually good. Would vets help Cade shoot 38% from three? IDK.

HadAnEffectHere wrote:"The Pistons have enough talent to start winning" Jaden Ivey is probably the worst starting PG in the NBA other than Keyonte and Scoot Henderson while Jalen Duren is the worst defender in the NBA other than John Collins.

The idea of a rebuild is to acquire talented, young players and then see if you can win with them. They can range from the OKC core back in the 2010's where they hit homerun after homerun, or they can miss on most prospects like the Timberwolves did with Kevin Love and Ricky Rubio. The point is, once you draft 3-4 times in the early lotto, it is time to see what you have acquired and how those players develop.

Right now, Detroit is going to need to decide if they view Cade as a long-term, cornerstone, foundational piece. The same can be said for Ivey, Duren and Ausar.

The issue in Detroit is they haven't really had a system in place for these players to succeed in, and considering Cade is going to be due a contract extension in 15 months, it is time to findout what they have.

If Duren and Ivey develop brains and Cade learns how to shoot, then yes, the Pistons can win right now. The issue is that their core four guys all suck currently (Cade, Ivey, Duren, and Ausar) and the team won't be good until some of those guys are actually good. Would vets help Cade shoot 38% from three? IDK.

I think a system and veterans can help players shoot better. Believe it or not, when you get better looks, you make more shots. When you have players who can take attention from the defense, it opens up driving lanes and gives the ball-handler spacing to operate. Spacing is king in the NBA and veteran players understand the value and impact of spacing on a basketball team.

HadAnEffectHere wrote:"The Pistons have enough talent to start winning" Jaden Ivey is probably the worst starting PG in the NBA other than Keyonte and Scoot Henderson while Jalen Duren is the worst defender in the NBA other than John Collins.

If Duren and Ivey develop brains and Cade learns how to shoot, then yes, the Pistons can win right now. The issue is that their core four guys all suck currently (Cade, Ivey, Duren, and Ausar) and the team won't be good until some of those guys are actually good. Would vets help Cade shoot 38% from three? IDK.

Cade is shooting 35% from 3, so yeah, any sort of team improvement where he stops getting stuck with the ball with the clock winding down and having to just "do something" could do that. The difference between 35% and 38% for cade is 1 make/miss every 6 games.

But yes, the team needs to put some established guys out there with Cade and Duren if they want to win games . You can't really fill the entire rotation with guys who are still developing and be competitive. Especially defensively.