Betrayer

Nice game from Ron. He looked like a man among boys even though he just turned 20.

So disruptive on defense and he was good on the glass too. Still a little out of control at times, but he can get to the paint at will. And more importantly the three ball looked really good. One game is a tiny sample size, but they talked about how that's been a focus for him this offseason and how he's working with Vinson a lot.

Holland with a good three point shot would be a game changer for this team. It would mean you can play Ausar and Ron together and just watch opponents cry.

Klintman has some really nice passing skills and his handle is pretty solid for a big man as well. I still need to see it come together against real NBA talent to believe it fully, but there might be a rotation player in there with some more development.

4 hours ago, Shinzaki said:

Drum is a 50% shooter over his career...Duren is 65%.   Not suggesting Duren is going to become a stretch big...but he's starting from  a better spot than Drum

For sure, and he has much better form. But every offseason we get videos of players draining threes on an empty court. I wouldn't read too much into it. It's also just not a part of JB's system on offense. Stew is a perfect example of that fact.

1 hour ago, Shinzaki said:

Saw a video of Duren working on his jumper facing the basket from the foul line out to 3.  At least he knows what he needs to work on

We saw those same videos with Drummond every year too.

Stealing Herb Jones or Trey Murphy away from NO would've been huge. Maybe Weaver has two brain cells left if he's keeping those two.

1 hour ago, Deleterious said:

Sort of makes me think the Monk trade was never a thing.  The entire reason to do a S&T with Monk was to retain the MLE.  Using their TPE does that, so they never needed to move Monk.  Either way, fantastic news that we are not getting Monk.  

Also shows how little value 2nd round picks have.  They gave one up just to get a TPE that odds say they won't use.

 

Could be a heavily protected 2nd. That way you don't really give up anything. You just have to include something in order to make the trade.

Wonder if the holdup is that the Pistons are shopping Monk to see if they can move him along to someone else as part of this S&T for Schroeder. At least I hope that's the hold up and that we aren't serious about adding Monk to this roster.

Whitmore traded to the Wizards for 2 second round picks.

1 hour ago, Deleterious said:

Wow

 

I feel like he's the new Doc Rivers. Not a good coach but everyone thinks he is for some reason.

39 minutes ago, Deleterious said:

Interesting.  I have them $4 million over the cap already.  And that is with me  using Reid's must smaller cap hold, not his contract value.  

 

 

 

I'm basing it on what I'm hearing from Kyle Metz (who is apparently a Pistons cap guru) on a podcast. I suppose it could be wrong, but he seems to know his stuff. I guess we'll find out in 4 days when all of these things become official.

With the moves the Pistons have made they still have the choice to approach this from two directions:

Stay Over the cap: Kings have structured the Schroeder deal in a way that allows for it to be a S&T. This could give us a trade exception or allow us to bring in a player from the Kings or even rope in a third team.

Go Under the cap: We would still have the 8M Room Exception to use.

3 hours ago, NYLion said:

Good fit, best shooter on the market to replace Beasley. Not a great contract but that's free agency for ya.

So I look at it this way, Levert replaced Schroder, Robinson replaced Beasley and Ivey replaced THJ. Sideways move, sizeable downgrade, significant upgrade.

After initially being super unhappy about this (mostly about missing out on NAW), your viewpoint is exactly how I've started to view it as well. And honestly, through that lens it's...fine. Not great, just fine.

Robinson might actually be a tiny upgrade over Beasley. Gives you the same movement shooting in a taller frame so he can play multiple positions. Both bad defenders for different reasons, but Beasley is actually a bit worse because Robinson is a smarter team defender who knows where to be and how to rotate (he's just slow footed). Beasley was always lost off ball. Duncan is also a better rebounder, passer, cutter, and a nearly 90% free throw shooter. Good, tradeable contract too.

Levert versus Schroeder (or THJ if people prefer to make that comparison) might be a bit better as well. I was done with THJ and there's not much more to say about that because it's obvious how bad his defense was and how little he offered when it wasn't that one game out of 10 where he was on fire from three. As for Schroeder, he's a poor 3 point shooter and even though he tried hard he was just too small on defense. Levert isn't lighting it up from three but he's better than Schroeder in that regard. He's also a bigger body on defense which is helpful. And he gives the team some much needed shot creation when Cade isn't on the floor with a good assist to turnover ratio. We'll see if he can keep up the offensive efficiency he had last year, because that's always been the big problem with him...not that Schroeder was very efficient either.

Oh, and dumping Tek's contract is a bonus here. Every minute he's not on the court is going to be an upgrade from last year whether it's Ron, Ausar, or even Duncan playing those minutes.

It's too early to say, but I think I'll enjoy seeing Lanier play over Sasser (hopefully) as well. His college numbers are pretty crazy (pulled from Woodward Sports): 2nd in nation in ppg off of screens, 4th in jump shot ppg, 95th percentile on unguarded C&S 3s, 94th percentile in isolation ppp, 82nd percentile in transition ppp, 84th percentile in halfcourt ppp, 91st percentile ppp in cuts. He could be a solid role player.

None of this moves the needle in a huge way, but it actually does feel like a tiny improvement over the guys we had last year. It's disappointing because I was hoping for a real improvement on the margins and we didn't get that, but it takes two to tango in free agency.

The sad part is that we'll probably slip down the ranking because other teams have improved. There's always the trade deadline I suppose...

Just saw a post that said you can't do a sign and trade for a 2 year deal, which is what was originally reported for Schroeder (2 for 30M). So, the announcement of this new deal for 3 years (the last year could be an option) might actually mean it's more likely that there is a S&T involved and that could have been the hold up with Sacramento trying to structure a 3rd year on the contract to make it work.

Just speculation, but interesting.

18 minutes ago, RatkoVarda said:

Guerschon Yabusele, 2/12 from the NYK, but Langdon is pissing away 5M on Paul Reed ;(

Players have to want to come here. That's why playing in free agency is almost always a bad idea for Detroit.

13 minutes ago, Deleterious said:

I doubt they are in salary trouble now that Turner left.  But I would be on the phone with Indiana asking about Nembhard, Nesmith, or McConnel.  Any one of those would be better than Monk and Robinson.  Also better than LeVert, but you can't go back on that deal.

Nothing gets signed until the 6th, right? They could pull a reverse-Boozer 🤣 

I wasn't sad about the Beasley news when I heard we were pivoting to NAW. But now Trajan is learning what we all know: The free agents you want simply aren't coming to Detroit.

Sounds like NAW is favored to go to Atlanta and so we've had to pivot to the table scraps (LaVert and Robinson). At very best those would be lateral moves from Shroeder, THJ, and Beasley in an offseason where you needed to be improving around your core, not taking steps sideways. Playing the Free Agency game in Detroit never works.

Meanwhile we're getting leapfrogged by multiple teams who finished just a couple games behind us last year such as the Magic and the Hawks. Let's not forget that both of those teams had significant injuries to some of their top players last year and now they've taken steps to improve on top of returning their existing talent.

Apparently it's not related to his time in Detroit. Back from when he was with LA.

If he's found guilty that's an NBA ban and his career is over. I'd like to hope that Trajan is smart enough to stay away from him this offseason even though this is just an investigation at this stage. Not worth the risk.

No need to operate over the cap now. Beasley in trouble, Schroder going somewhere to be a starter, and THJ isn't someone that you need to worry about prioritizing. Release the cap holds, Free up the money, and go get NAW or DFS or something. We needed to replace last years vets with some 2-way players anyway.

There aren't a ton of options if they're looking for a replacement for Fontecchio at the backup PF. Santi isn't a bad option depending upon what he'll cost. He'd certainly be a much better (and younger) version of Tek. I've heard a lot of Portis talk as well, but I think that's just fans speculating.

Their plan obviously isn't to push in their chips and instead to improve on the margins. If that's the case, then I'm ok with Santi on a small sign-and-trade and getting NAW in free agency.

Ivey takes THJ's minutes, NAW takes Beasley's, and Santi takes Tek's. Any minutes that were going to Sasser (if he's still around) would go to Lanier. Those are all solid upgrades.

The question remaining after that is whether they want to trust Ivey to be the backup PG again (I hope not) and where they're going to find one without much cash to spare. Oh, and a legitimate 7 footer to replace Bball Paul on the bench would be nice insurance.

2 hours ago, Deleterious said:

I know some were interested in him.

 

Does this mean they don't have the money to retain NAW? I'm guessing Langdon wants Beasley back, but NAW would be a clear upgrade as a 2-way player.

Surprised to see Raynaud still on the board.

6'5" movement shooter. 23 year old senior, so probably ready to contribute very soon. This is your replacement or insurance for moving on from Beasley/THJ.

Would've loved to see the Pistons do something bold, but this is a solid pick that I can't complain about at #37.

1 hour ago, Deleterious said:

 

Robinson intrigued me in the past, but he's never healthy so I'll pass. I'd be interested in Bridges but I doubt NYK is ready to trade him for his actual value so soon after trading so much to get him.

A few things...

1. I actually hope Sacramento takes Schroeder and forces us in another direction. Schroeder was fine, but his ability (or willingness) to get to the basket and create for others didn't impress me, he's small, and he's not a floor spacer. At least give me someone who can shoot the three reliably while we're developing all of these other players who can't.

2. After listening to Trajan's presser rather than just going off of the quotes, it's not as simple as "we aren't going to be aggressive." He said they're going to keep their options open for a trade like what Orlando did as long as they don't have to mortgage the future. Maybe that's not going to materialize, but I think it's a little more nuanced than "we want to run it all back" as I've been hearing the media say. They want to be smart about it.

3. Trajan didn't seem like he was in a rush to sign extensions with Ivey and Duren. He very much acted like it was no big deal if they go into restricted free agency next offseason.

4. He also said they want to bring back the 3 vets, but also that they're doing their due diligence in case that doesn't happen to find replacements. Essentially, he left the door open.

Sounds like the stuff you say after you've already called the teams who have players you want and realized they aren't for sale or cost too much. Hopefully they at least do some work around the edges and pursue someone like NAW. I really don't want to see all three of those vets come back (THJ, Beasley, Schroeder).

I've been staring at this trade wondering who it helps.

1 hour ago, Deleterious said:

Nice move by Boston.  Simmons is expiring next year and can help them with Tatum out.  Shaves two expensive years off of Holiday's deal.  Could move him again at the deadline, maybe.

Portland, I don't know.  Maybe they try to flip Holiday again.  

 

Wait, what? You'd have to give ME more than two 2nd round picks to take on Holiday's contract. He's a bench player with an All-Star's contract. And yet Portland not only gives THEM the second round picks, they also give up Simons? Did Adam Silver give them a call and make them help out Boston?