Betrayer

As Del said, they actually do need someone who can attack and get his own shot in that bench unit. He's also shooting 39% from 3 on the season, which this team sorely needs. As far as running the offense, he's actually pretty solid at that and makes some great passes when the defense collapses. He's had games of 12 and 15 assists this year when Cade has been out, and he doesn't turn the ball over much. Defense is fine for his size. He's aggressive and goes for homerun plays , but that's most of this team, especially the bench with Ron and Javonte in there. That's their identity. He's not going to be a 6th man candidate or anything, but he's a solid enough backup to play 15 mpg behind your star player.

Unlikely, though it's tough be sure at ages 22-24. Then again, there's only 1 championship team each year, so it's pretty unlikely for any core in the league. Did anyone think the '04 team was a championship core at the time? I was on this message board (yes, I'm old) and I can tell you they didn't. Imagine if before the season you asked if this core would be the #1 seed in the East by 5+ games in February. Think anyone would have said "yes"? I didn't see anyone but the most blindly optimistic predicting even the #3 seed and most were predicting #4-#6 or even a big falloff after losing Beasley/Shroeder/Hardaway. I'm sure your point is that they'll need a second star to truly compete at some point, and overall I agree with that. Hell, I think they might need a better in-game coach. But I also understand Trajan wanting to be patient with such a young team if the right deal wasn't out there. For now, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt that the right move hasn't come around yet.

I’d sit Cariss. But then I’d sit Cariss in the regular season as well. Starters plus Stew, Daniss, Ron, and Javonte. Everyone else is just in case you need them for certain situations. But I’m also playing Ausar 30+ a night and JB won’t because he’s bad at lineups.

Maxing him would be a mistake.

Where are all the people on here who didn’t think Daniss could hold down the backup PG minutes? 😁

So they just ignore that forearm that everyone can see?

He’s on the bench, saving us from Jaden Ivey minutes.

Ausar blocked that with his elbow.

No foul even though replay clearly shows Cade getting hit on the wrist by Shamet.

Refs got the call to get the Knicks back in this.

So Ausar is older than Brunson and has to come out before him to get his rest I guess.

Anyone take a look at the schedule for the next month? I wish it was last month to give this front office a bit of a wake up call going into the deadline. We're about to find some things out for real... Knicks x2 Spurs x2 Cavs x2 Thunder Raptors Magic Hornets (won 9 of last 10) The only truly easy game is against the Bulls from now through March 6th.

Ugly game. Pistons looked lost and disinterested from the start. They had a chance and made a massive comeback when JB doubled down on defense with the Ausar and Ron combo (+10 in their minutes together), but Washington was hitting some of the craziest shots in the second half and the hole they dug was too deep. Hopefully they're saving it all for tonight against the Knicks. If Duren's out we might actually be able to guard KAT.

The cap makes no sense to me. Spotrac shows the Pistons as having a maximum possible cap space of 49.7M. I'm assuming that's partly because Duncan is only guaranteed 2M and Reed and Bobi are non-guaranteed, but that's not enough to make up the difference. Does Duren's 19.5M hold make up the rest? Make it make sense.

Bottom line, this trade wasn't about Huerter. It was about moving Jaden Ivey. He clearly wasn't happy, he never improved in the areas that matter (defense, finishing, turnovers), there was no room for him to develop here, they weren't going to give him the money he wanted this offseason, and he had a 30M dollar cap hold that would have hurt the team's flexibility in the offseason. There was obviously no trade market for him, so they go what they could get before this stretched into the offseason. That said, Huerter is a better player than Jaden Ivey. It's marginal, but he is. Better finisher inside the arc, better career 3pt shooter, better playmaker, and a better defender. He's also an expiring contract, which is better for the team this offseason. They also have the potential to move from 29 to 22 in a good draft. That's actually a significant jump whether you're drafting cheap talent or using the pick as an asset in a trade. I'm disappointed they didn't trade him sooner to get more out of it, but let's be realistic. Jaden's injuries complicated the trade situation big time and every team in the league was seeing the same thing we were seeing every time Jaden stepped on the court.