The Detroit Pistons are a mess. If we’re being honest, they’ve been a mess since their 2004 Championship. Okay, well, not exactly. They went to the finals the next year and lost. The 3 years after that they lost in the Eastern Conference Finals. So really it’s been 11 years they’ve been a mess. That doesn’t make it much better though. They literally fell off in terms of relevancy after the 2008 season. In those 11 years, they’ve made the playoffs 3 times, all as an 8th seed. Part of the problem is that they have never properly rebuilt their team to become a contender again.
Yes, you’ve read that right, properly rebuilt. There’s a difference from just rebuilding and properly rebuilding. By default, if a team is doing badly, they are rebuilding. However, if that team isn’t accepting of that and tries to do a get-rich-quick scheme, they will continue to be borderline good and just end up being irrelevant for years. This is EXACTLY what the Pistons are doing right now. They are trying these get-rich-quick schemes to try to be good and relevant. Why do you think they traded for Blake Griffin and signed Derrick Rose? Since the 2008 season, they’ve never been worse than the 12th team in the East, which means there were at least 3 teams worse than them and that’s not including the West. They need to properly tank. No team WANTS to do it, but it is something that needs to be done every once in a while. The 76ers did it, and now they are the 2nd best team in the East with Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons, crucial components to their tanking process. I’m encouraging the Spurs to tank because of what the Pistons are trying to do. So in order to PROPERLY tank, this is what the Pistons need to do.
What Should Be The Detroit Pistons Plan
Let’s rip off the band-aid fast. Trade Andre Drummond. He’s a fantastic player, and I like his game. So do a lot of teams. That’s exactly why you should trade him. In my honest opinion, he isn’t going to stay with the Pistons forever. He can walk away for free if he opts out of his player option this year and if he opts in, he can leave next year. Get ahead of the game and trade him. You’ll get a massive haul of picks and great pieces for him. I talked about how the Mavericks would be a perfect fit for him. He is a great young player that the Pistons would love to keep, but if you’re Andre Drummond, you’re not gonna wait around to see if the Pistons build a good team around you. You’ll happily go find yourself a good team to go to try to win a title. That’s a hard pill to swallow for Pistons fans and if you’re still reading after that, you’re a smart, dedicated fan.
Of course, the corresponding move after that would be to trade Blake Griffin. Blake Griffin deserves to be on a contender, despite whether or not he is a cancer. He’s already 30 and his prime is running out of time. It’s just better to trade him now and get whatever you can for him. He isn’t going to help you win, This is the best thing for both parties involved. He doesn’t want to be on a losing team and the Detroit Pistons don’t want his contract. Cut the plug and trade him. That’s necessary for the proper rebuild.
Those are the main things that they need to do. But there are other things that would be smart. They have some expiring contracts this year, let them expire or re-sign those players on another 1-year contract for cheap. Why? Well, the 2021 Free Agency class will be LEGENDARY. There are so many stars to go around. Of course, this can change if and when some stars re-sign. But even then, there are so many stars that the Pistons couldn’t possibly miss all of them. They also already have some contracts that expire in 2021, KEEP THOSE. These are crucial to their rebuild.
The last thing I heavily recommend is to keep Luke Kennard long term. In a mess of the Pistons, he has consistently been cleaning it up and helping the Pistons heavily. I would sign him long-term and keep him around as young as he is. To recap, the Pistons NEED to trade Andre Drummond and Blake Griffin. If they can, I’d trade them for those expiring contracts in 2021, young players with potential and picks. After that, they just need to let nature take its course and just lose.
They have contracts expiring this year and next year. If they just sign one-year deals for next year, they’ll be golden. If they trade those guys, they’ll probably get a high draft pick, get a great player and then tank again next year. Next year, they can another great draft pick and get another great player. Now, you have Luke Kennard long-term, two great draft selections (hopefully top 5), AND a ton of free cap to sign a star or even 2. If the Pistons are willing to lose this year and next year, they will be a relevant team in the 2021-2022 season. BOOK IT.
I’m not the GM of the Detroit Pistons, but you cannot tell me this isn’t a good plan and absolutely necessary. If you don’t agree with me, you’re just in denial and just can’t handle the truth. You either want the Pistons to be relevant or be irrelevant, choose wisely.
