5/3/26 3:30PM RD1 GM7 Magic (3-3) @ Pistons (3-3)

[Hongbit]

1 hour ago, Deleterious said:

Said it all year.  That Bane trade will go down as one of the worst trades ever.

It left them with a very incomplete roster.   They don't even have a PG.  Starting this summer they are a 1st apron team with zero draft capital.  They basically have two years to win before their payroll balloons up over $500 million a year.  

I disagree.  I commend them for seeing a rare opportunity and trying to take advantage.  This was not a normal year with the injuries in Boston and Indiana.  The East was completely wide open.   They felt Bane was a missing piece for what they needed but they got tripped up by injury with Wagner missing most of the season and Suggs about a quarter.  

We saw a little bit of what they could do in the early part of this series.   They looked nothing like an 8 seed at full strength. When they put this roster together in the summer, I can understand the front office thinking they could’ve won the East.    

[NYLion]

2 hours ago, gehringer_2 said:

the swing of this series was probably about Cade getting 100% back into NBA playing mode after the pneumothorax.

Also Wagner going down to be quite honest. I'm not sure if they win this series if he's healthy but, hey, that's the way it goes sometimes and the Pistons don't need to apologize for winning against a team missing one of their best players.

Edited 1 hour ago by NYLion

[buddha]

franz missing the key games of the series is very franz.  when the going go tough, franz got a calf strain.

[DTroppens]

30 minutes ago, buddha said:

franz missing the key games of the series is very franz.  when the going go tough, franz got a calf strain.

If that injury doesn't happen, I doubt the Pistons advance, so I'm glad he's injury prone.

[DTroppens]

I went for a walk after the game to burn off some adrenaline and the thought that kept hitting my mind was "it's nice to know the Pistons are playing basketball deep into May." Kind of put a smile on my face for the entire walk.

[Deleterious]

2 hours ago, Hongbit said:

I disagree.  I commend them for seeing a rare opportunity and trying to take advantage.  This was not a normal year with the injuries in Boston and Indiana.  The East was completely wide open.   They felt Bane was a missing piece for what they needed but they got tripped up by injury with Wagner missing most of the season and Suggs about a quarter.  

We saw a little bit of what they could do in the early part of this series.   They looked nothing like an 8 seed at full strength. When they put this roster together in the summer, I can understand the front office thinking they could’ve won the East.    

It was a dumb trade from a GM with no clue about the new CBA.  It was 100% a trade you make in the past but you absolutely cant do it now under the new rules.  They are now an apron team which means their roster is pretty much locked in.  The new rules make it almost impossible to maneuver via trades and free agency is impossible.  Their roster will have ehh, a good $250-$300 million in luxury tax payments in 3 years.

They have:

No PG.  Absolutely nobody to distribute the ball.  

No Shooting.   They make Detroit look like the splash brother era Warrior teams they are so bad.  And Franz being out didn't do that.  He is a career 32% three point shooter.  Suggs being out didn't do that.  He is a career 33% three point shooter.

No PoA defender.  Suggs can handle smaller guards like Brunson.  But nobody to guard the bigger guys like Cade, Jalen Johnson, etc.  

Best part.  They have no way to fix any of their roster problems because they are now an apron team.  On top of that, they have no draft picks worth a damn to help fix any of their problems.

If you make a deal like that, it has to be two things.

1) He has to be a star if you give up that much and lock yourself in that bad.  Bane is a nice player, he is not even close to being a star.

2) He has to be the final piece to the puzzle.  If you are going to lock your roster in because of all the new rules, you can't have massive holes to fix on your roster.  They do.

I love aggressive GM's.  Hell, I had multiple aggressive trade ideas for Detroit.  Difference is, none of them put them in the roster/salary hell Orlando is in for the next 3 years.