Betrayer

I wouldn't do it. I'd rather hold Grant and try to move him this offseason than take a deal for Turner. On the plus side, he's 2 years younger than Grant and the Pistons need a competent Center who can block shots. However, you have the same contract issue with both of them. They'll want a big payday in 1.5 years (or an extension this summer) that the Pistons are trying to avoid since they aren't ready to compete now. Plus, I wouldn't tie up 30M/yr in a Center in today's NBA. If you watched last season's playoffs you saw a lot of bigs - even top guys like Gobert and Ayton - sitting on the bench for long periods when teams spread the court on them. Great in the regular season, but bigs are getting exposed in the playoffs these days. He's also not a good rebounder for his position and size (6.7 per game). He's not a rim runner, preferring to step out and take that three - which he's below average at (33%), even though he takes 4 a game. He also has recent injury issues that are concerning when you're talking about a big man's feet/legs. I want the same thing Weaver wants - a young prospect and a 1st rounder. I'm looking at guys like Patrick Williams, Wiseman, Kuminga, Collins, Anfernee Simmons, Okongwu, etc.

The deal was obviously not true since we can't trade a first anyway, but even if it could have been true in some alternate reality I wouldn't have touched it with a 10' pole. Grant, Bey, and a first rounder? That's going in the opposite direction for a rebuilding team. No way he's worth that, his contract is terrible, he can't shoot, and he's a diva. If you asked to trade Grant for Simmons straight up I'd say no and wouldn't think twice - he's the opposite of what this team needs.

Agreed. I believe they did this because he was coming back from injury, but I hope they keep it this way and leave either CoJo or Frank (when he returns) in the starting lineup alongside Cade. Let him play the remaining 40 games leading the bench unit, running the pick n roll, defending at a high level without worry of fouls, and without starter pressure. By the end of the year we'll have a better feel for what we have with him than if we just keep sticking him in the corner every play on a team where the corner defender doesn't need to collapse because our Center isn't a threat on the pick and roll.

For me it's probably Ivey followed by Jabari, but it's early and there's more research to be done. This team desperately needs an athletic creator and Ivey ticks that box big time. I've seen comparisons to Ja Morant, Mitchell, DWade, and JRich. He's also shooting 43% from three this year and is a high level perimeter defender. He'd be a great fit in the backcourt next to Cade. If we can get Patrick Williams in the Grant trade then it's easy enough to go grab a rim running big in free agency. Your Center doesn't need to be an All-Star - I don't believe in spending big money on a Center in today's NBA. He just needs to be able to do what Javale McGee did to us the other day. Mitchell Robinson would do fine.

Tough one to watch with all the foul calls. Feels like most of the game was spent watching free throws, and watching Cade sit on the bench in foul trouble. But Kelly made a big difference in the game and Bey was on fire! Nice win in the clutch.

Montiejunas looks like even more of an idiot with his crying on Twitter about how Detroit is ruining NBA careers by failing physicals on trades.

15pts is "went off" now?

I’d take a flyer on him for JJ, but honestly I wouldn’t make any minor moves until the Grant trade gets done. You may need those smaller contracts to make the deal work and that’s the far more important trade.

Hami has been big for this team in their recent success. He simply brings something nobody else does with his elite athleticism and ability to attack. I just don’t understand Casey’s reluctance to play him the 4th - last night I watched the lead whittle away while Hami rode the pine until the 2:50 mark in the 4th, even though he was clearly one of the biggest difference makers in creating the lead. Same thing the other night. Also, once again the team was better with a big man who is an offensive threat on the floor. It was to our benefit that Stew got into foul trouble. should we start talking about the 6-10 pick? This recent winning is nice, but…

Collins can be traded after January 14th, which is coming up...now. But again, that was me wishing. I don't see Atlanta moving him.

This 100%. And they need that same guy for rim protection and competent rebounding on the other end too.

Totally agree. I don't like Lyles at all. Which is why it infuriates me even more that they look better with him on the court than Stew. This team needs a competent pick n' roll big in a bad way.

The Chicago deals I've been hearing similar to this one make the most sense. They're in "win-now" mode with DeRozan. Not a fan of most of the trades on the Athletic. The NYK trade is decent. The Washington trade is 'meh'. I want Anfernee + Covington if we're trading with Portland, not Powell and definitely not McLemore. Lakers can GTFO with that garbage. Atlanta might still be able to put together a nice package for Grant. I'd take those first round picks, Okongwu, and Gallinari (for salary match). I'd also be interested in a package if it involved Collins, but I doubt they let him go. Golden State is another team I'd talk to. Wiseman and Kuminga are both interesting young prospects and they have a closing window that's not long enough for those kids to make an impact. Grant, on the other hand, can be huge for them on both ends immediately. After losing their last two games to playoffs teams (Bucks and Grizz), they might be ripe for a discussion. Phoenix is also in win-now mode with Chris Paul's tiny window. I want Cam Johnson in that trade. Saric would probably have to come back for salaries, plus some other stuff in that deal to make it work. Sadly Phoenix doesn't have a pick to trade. I've heard Boston discussed by those who theorize that they're ready to give up on the Tatum/Brown pairing. Obviously, I'd do almost anything to get Brown, but I don't see that happening. Swapping firsts this year might sweeten the pot, but they'd still want more than just Grant. However, if you can pull that off, then suddenly the window changes. You throw all your money at Ayton in the offseason and you've got a core (Cade, Brown, Ayton) that can start making noise immediately next year.

Also, Cam Reddish got moved to the Knicks. So, a lot of the trade rumors out there about the Pistons going after Cam in a Grant trade are off the table. However, some are speculating that Atlanta may have collected that extra first round pick from the Knicks in order to do a subsequent trade...Grant maybe?

I think Hayes with the starters is hurting his own development, but Stew with the starters is hurting everyone else's. At least 3 of Cade's turnovers in the Bulls game were due to Stew's bad hands and inability to be a vertical threat. Both Cade and Killian were touted as tremendous pick and roll players, but between Coach Casey's terrible "dribble-hand-off into an iso" offense and Stew's lack of ability to be the roll guy when they do try the pick and roll, you've got a developmental mess out there in the starting lineup. There's a reason why this team has looked so much better on the offensive end when Lyles is out there with the starters, and it's not because Lyles is a good player. It's simply because he's at least a mediocre threat to score.

Such a fun game to watch after a really slow start out of the gate. Cade and Bey leading the charge. Diallo was playing well so I was a bit confused about JJ taking his minutes to finish the 4th, but maybe they're trying to move him before the deadline and need to give him some extra time. Probably need to address the elephants in the room: Hayes and Stew. Time to move Hayes to the bench to run that unit. I was hopeful with his 3pt percentage early on, but he's just a non-factor out there 90% of the time. Maybe running the second unit with less pressure can make him more aggressive. Any of Frank, Saben, or CoJo would be better with the starters. As for Stew, this team is just better with someone on the court who can be a factor on the offensive end or a threat in the pick and roll. Whether that's Lyles or Kelly (when he comes back), it may be time to move Stew to the bench unit as well. I think that's where he belongs long-term anyway. He's got a great heart, but he's limited simply due to his size, lack of offensive skill, and lack of athleticism.

Everything I've heard over the past few weeks is saying exactly the opposite of this. That his value is still sky high and that many teams are calling about him. There are legitimate sources, such as James Edwards III, reporting this.

Nice appetizer while we wait for the Grant trade to come in. Gave up nothing and got a big man with some potential on a trial contract.

Pistons certainly made it fun to watch, but you pretty much knew they would come up short in the end. Lyles game looked nice on paper, but Miami knew just who to go after on the other end. They ran a screen to get him defending the guard (usually Lowry) every time down the court and it resulted in either a layup or a wide open look for a Heat player after the help had to come. They just picked him apart and he gave up as much as he got on the offensive end, if not more. Josh Jackson is abysmal. Mistake after mistake. I have no idea what happened to him, but he seems to have completely regressed. CoJo can play 42 minutes in a game like this but this team won't play its 20 year old starters more than 25 minutes on most nights...? Another nice game from Bey who seems to be figuring some things out since donning the headband. Would really like to have seen more Garza in this game. What could it hurt? It's not like we're winning games. Instead they rolled Cheick Diallo out there and went small a lot. It's going to be a long couple of weeks without Cade, Stewart, and Hayes.

Miami doubled him off of every screen to take him out of the game. He made the right read and got 10 assists as a result. Would've had way more if guys could hit their shots. 3rd solid game from Bey in a row. He's been getting started each game with some bully-ball for easy looks, using his strength. With his confidence up, the three ball has started to fall more regularly. Let's see if he can keep it up.

Sure, it's probably not a game they were going to win anyway, but Casey does it again. He leaves the second unit in until 5 minutes left in the 4th. They score just 1 point in that time period and the game completely flips. Casey has no concept of momentum or game management. KD plays 41 minutes at age 33 and we've got 20 year olds that Casey is afraid to play more than 20 minutes. Diallo was 5 for 8, but only played 20 minutes, and didn't even play in the 4th. On a good note, Cade continues to look really good. Yeah, the turnovers are rough, but he's scoring, rebounding, passing, stealing, and just filling the stat sheet. 26 points, (9-18 and 5 for 8 from 3), 8 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals, 1 block. Saben finally got a legitimate chance and played very well off the bench. 17 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals, 1 block. Hopefully we can be done with CoJo now. Lyles is still trash.

It's not like Jerami was getting us a bunch of wins. Honestly, I'm just sad they lost a potential trade piece. What does this starting lineup look like now? I was already pulling for moving Hami in as a starter in place of Bey, but I doubt that's possible now unless Casey really shakes things up. I think I'd try Hami at SF and Bey at PF. Bey has the strength to guard most PFs and he won't get beat by their quickness like he often does against SFs and SGs. Give that until Kelly returns and if it's not working you can tweak things again. But let's be real. This is Casey. He's going to find a way to start either Lyles or CoJo.

He's the real tank commander. Great character guy, which is good for development but I'm actually starting to wonder if his (lack of) offense, iso-plays, and lineups are actually hurting these player's NBA development. Maybe it's fine for this year, but we'll need to move on if we want to start getting some wins next year. He truly mishandled this game with his video game lineups where he rides 5 bench players for half of the 4th quarter. And that last play was just atrocious. They need a 3 with less than a second on the clock and: 1. Initially he leaves Stewart and Hami on the floor, while leaving Killian (the team's best 3 pt shooter) on the bench. 2. Cade - who has scored the last 4 buckets in OT is inbounding. 3. We try the play (to get Frank a shot at the logo) and they sniff it out, so Casey calls a timeout because we can't get the ball inbounds. 4. Casey swaps Stewart for CoJo (why CoJo?) and still runs the EXACT same play that they had already sniffed out. When asked why Killian wasn't in the game, Casey's response is that his +/- wasn't good for the game. Seriously? Plus/minus? That's what matters when you need to get a three with the last shot in OT? What a train wreck of a coach. And can we talk about Trey Lyles? There was a point where he went into 3 defenders and got his shot crushed at the rim (subtract 2 pts). Then the very next play he commits an intentional foul 30 feet from the bucket to prove a point (subtract 2 more points) and then gets a tech on top of it (subtract 1 more point). As soon as I saw it I said, "that guy is sitting on my bench for the rest of the game. And if we lose this game by 5 pts or less, he's not playing in the next game either." Guess what? We lost by 3.

Rough loss, but good for the tank. Cade had a really good game. His turnovers need to get under control, but he was the best player on the court for 3 quarters until SGA went crazy. Really didn't expect him to be such a good rebounder as well. Killian had a nice first half and then struggled in the second half. He's improving though and I really like watching him on defense. Bey continues to be not just bad, but terrible, this season. Hit a few shots in the first quarter to give us hope, but wound up 5 of 16, which means he was absolute trash outside of Q1. I think he only hit 1 shot the rest of the way. He's pump faking himself out of open shots, taking terrible side-step threes, and just looking lost out there. If Hami didn't have a broken face, I would make a lineup change. Casey continues to put this team in a bad position. This lead disappeared when he rode that terrible bench squad for way too long in the 4th. He simply decides on a rotation and never deviates no matter how the momentum changes during the game. Everyone watching could see what was happening, but he made no changes, didn't try bringing starters back early to shake it up at all. Lyles is straight trash. Goes out and jacks up bad shots, tries to take people off the dribble all the time, and just isn't good at any facet of the game. He was 2 for 7. Your back up big is shooting 41% from the floor and 29% from three with an eFG of 47% - that's bad on an epic level. Not sure who else to play, but he's not the answer. This team really needs a bouncy big man who can rebound, protect the paint, and be a vertical threat in the pick and roll.

Diallo out with a fractured face. It's too bad because he was playing well and with a lot of energy on both sides of the ball. In fact, I probably would've moved him into the starting lineup over Bey at this point. Corey Joseph ruled out due to a knee issue. Probably music to most fan's ears at this point. Maybe that means Saben minutes or maybe Casey will look to stagger Cade/Hayes by bringing one of them out early. I prefer he kept them playing together because they're really starting to build chemistry with passes to each other and back door cuts. They also have the best +/- of any duo on the team.