BDM22 wrote:Presti passed on Alperen Sengun (he owned the pick that got him and blew it by trading him). He also passed on Jalen Duren for Ousmane Dieng. No GM is immune to making bad decisions (especially in the draft).
But Presti has been at it for decades in OKC so he's had a chance to build up the value of assets on the roster (helps to start with KD). He knew when to sell on guys (Paul George, Westbrook, etc), so that he could rebuild with assets like tons of picks and SGA. Something previous GM's in Detroit didn't know how to do and it's a big reason why this team has been terrible for decades. Not really on Weaver that he started with a dumpster fire though.
Presti also seems to have picked a good year to get lucky with the lotto balls in landing Chet. Something out of your control. This Pistons team with a spacer & elite help defender in the frontcourt like Chet looks a whole lot different, and that's just luck.
presti took over the team when they were still the supersonics with no asset other than a rookie durant and their own picks. in their 3rd season under him they made the playoffs and would only miss it again once in the next 11 years. even when they lost superstars like durant, westbrook, harden, PG, etc. he kept them competitive. now, when they decided to re-tool he again got them back to the playoffs in their third season. nobody is perfect but presti is widely considered one of the best for a reason, it's why weaver got so much hype as his right-hand man.
weaver started with virtually no positive assets but turned over the entire roster in one season (so no continuity), took every opportunity he could to get younger and worse players (so no leadership). in his first off season he traded kennard and bruce brown, two young players on a rebuild timeline for picks and then brought in "his guys" like josh jack, diallo, bagley and wiseman. he's also made no effort to upgrade positions (besides bojan) even when guys clearly weren't working out. he made stewart transition to PF and then just gifted him a starting spot despite him transitioning to a position he never played before.
he said he wanted to build a culture but i don't know how you do that by willingly acquiring players nobody else wanted, hence a bunch of them being out of the league (josh jackson, frank jackson, diallo, knox, okafor) and soon to be wiseman, hayes and bagley. that's a lot of assets you had (players, picks or cap space) that are now worth nothing.