2022 Pistons Offseason

[RandyMarsh]

Whoops didn't realize there was a summer league thread, I guess I"ll take my post there. 

[RandyMarsh]

They wouldn't be getting picks back but I think the Nets would gladly take that deal if offered.  Assuming Poole and Wiggins can maintain their same success away from the Warriors you'd be getting 2 All Star level players and two lottery tickets with All Star upside.  I'd gladly take that over 4 or 5 1st round picks that you have no idea where they are going to land. 

[Deleterious]

That seems like a bad deal for GSW.

[Deleterious]

I want the Nets to trade Kyrie for Westbrook then do not trade KD.  Russ and KD reunion in Brooklyn.  

[Deleterious]

They really have treated KD poorly.

Gave him $40M to rehab his injury the first year.

Let him hand pick the coach he wanted.

Let him hand pick his teammates in Irving and Harden.  Gutting the future of the franchise to do it.

Gave him a massive extension, that ironically has not kicked in yet.

The Weirdness of Kevin Durant Wanting Out

Quote

This much is clear: Durant is fed up, as underscored by the trade demand he issued on Thursday. From there, it all gets much more confusing.

Those who know Durant cite two primary factors: a rocky Nets season that ended in a first-round playoff sweep; and the franchise’s soured relationship with Irving, his close friend.

Durant doesn’t see much hope for a revival under the circumstances, those sources say. And he’s unhappy that his friend is unhappy.

 

[buddha]

9 minutes ago, Deleterious said:

They really have treated KD poorly.

Gave him $40M to rehab his injury the first year.

Let him hand pick the coach he wanted.

Let him hand pick his teammates in Irving and Harden.  Gutting the future of the franchise to do it.

Gave him a massive extension, that ironically has not kicked in yet.

The Weirdness of Kevin Durant Wanting Out

 

this is what happens when you let the inmates run the asylum.  players' feelings are fickle.  you need to run a solid franchise and draft and develop good players and good people, not turn your team over to mercenaries like kyrie, kd, and harden.

fuck the nets.  this is hilarious to watch.

[buddha]

36 minutes ago, RandyMarsh said:

They wouldn't be getting picks back but I think the Nets would gladly take that deal if offered.  Assuming Poole and Wiggins can maintain their same success away from the Warriors you'd be getting 2 All Star level players and two lottery tickets with All Star upside.  I'd gladly take that over 4 or 5 1st round picks that you have no idea where they are going to land. 

gsw is the best team in the league and the only thing stopping them is if steph gets injured.  draymond is going to be an albatross soon and who knows if klay can ever return to be a splash bro again, but they know how to run a team.

i have no idea why they would break up that core to bring in a diva like durant.  i cant see them doing it.  i hope they dont do it.

let durant rot in the mess he made in brooklyn.

[Deleterious]

48 minutes ago, buddha said:

this is what happens when you let the inmates run the asylum.  players' feelings are fickle.  you need to run a solid franchise and draft and develop good players and good people, not turn your team over to mercenaries like kyrie, kd, and harden.

fuck the nets.  this is hilarious to watch.

The problem isn't the mercenary model.  The problem is picking the wrong mercenaries.

Miami did ok with it when they let Lebron and Bosh take over.  They even sort of pushed aside the current franchise player to do it. 

Cleveland and LA did it again with LeBron.  LA is currently a mess, but they got a title out of it before becoming a mess. 

Toronto is a mix of growing your own talent but at the end of the day they needed a mercenary to get it done.  GSW obviously grew a lot of their talent, but they don't win those two titles without KD.

KD is an immense talent and every team in the league would want him.  You just don't want him as the face of your franchise.  He suffers in that role.  He needs to be #2 like he was in GS and let #1 take all the pressure usually associated with the face of the franchise.  Same thing basically for Kyrie.

[casimir]

10 minutes ago, Deleterious said:

The problem isn't the mercenary model.  The problem is picking the wrong mercenaries.

I think this is more of an apt description.  Success in basketball, more than any other sport (save for a hot goalie in a series), can be driven by a few players.  Get 2 or 3 superstars to stay healthy and play with their heads in the goals for the team, surround them with decent role players, and that's likely a recipe for success.

[Deleterious]

So there were a ton of extensions announced this week.  Ja, Beal, Booker, Jokic, and quite a few more.  Point is, those are guys who were on next years FA list.  So now that list is starting to look a lot less attractive.

[Hart]

9 minutes ago, Deleterious said:

So there were a ton of extensions announced this week.  Ja, Beal, Booker, Jokic, and quite a few more.  Point is, those are guys who were on next years FA list.  So now that list is starting to look a lot less attractive.

Seems like this happens all the time in the basketball and baseball.  People hype a free agent class two years in advance and it never gets close to the hype because of extensions.

[Deleterious]

40 wins?  I have never seen a guy so pumped to be under .500.

 

[Deleterious]

Memphis has done a great job identify young talent the past 2-3 years.  Might be something to this kid.

 

[Deleterious]

Get him the hell away from Cade.

 

[RandyMarsh]

4 minutes ago, Deleterious said:

Get him the hell away from Cade.

 

I saw Cade was trending earlier so I immediately feared that he got hurt or something, seeing him hang out with Kyrie may actually be worse. 

[Deleterious]

Free agents can sign their deals today.  Teams can also complete trades today.  So the Grant deal will be done as will Duren. 

I saw pictures of Duren traveling on the team plane to Vegas.  So he is there and should play.

[Deleterious]

Windhorst was on ESPN and said there is no bidding war for Durant.  Teams made their offers and feel no need to up them.  He hinted the offers are probably less than Minnesota gave up for Gobert.

[Motown Bombers]

I'm not surprised that teams don't want to completely sacrifice their team for Durant who will just want to leave in a year or two. 

[Deleterious]

Lacob is the Golden State owner and this quote is from a podcast he was on.

GSW is a repeat payer to the luxury tax system and that carries huge penalties.  For every dollar they spend over the luxury tax they have to pay a penalty of $6.25 and they are over the luxury tax.  So if they had wanted to keep Gary Payton II for say, $10M per year.  It would have cost them $72M this year to do it.

 

[RandyMarsh]

Dame signs a 2/122 extension with the Blazers.  I imagine that is the highest AAV in league history.  

[Deleterious]

The year he is 36 he will make $63M. No thanks.

[Deleterious]

 

[Betrayer]

I love this kid.

https://theathletic.com/3411166/2022/07/11/pistons-saddiq-bey-mountains-grid/

 

Quote

Piston's Saddiq Bey and life in the mountains: 'I like being off the grid'

by James Edwards III

LAS VEGAS — Imagine a world in which a basketball coach and general manager want their blue-chip 23-year-old prospect to take a break from basketball. That world, centered on Detroit in this case, says far more about the player than the people in charge.

Pistons forward Saddiq Bey has needed to be physically pulled off of the hardwood at times. After his rookie season, which saw the former Villanova product earn All-Rookie honors, Bey spent a large part of his offseason playing with Team USA. From there, he participated in Detroit’s Summer League stint in Las Vegas. After that, Bey went on to play and start in all 82 games for the Pistons. In his free time, Bey brought his work home, or vice versa. He’d always end up at the team’s practice facility.

Basketball. Basketball. More basketball.

“It was recommended to me by the staff (to take time off),” Bey said with a smile at his end-of-season media availability.

Many thought Bey needed a hobby; something that could momentarily take his mind and body away from the game that consumes him and perhaps allow him to recover both physically and mentally. A fresh mind goes a long way.

So, for the last two months, Bey has been hiking in the mountains of Boulder, Colorado, where he rented a three-story Airbnb.

Yes, hiking.

“I like being off the grid,” Bey told The Athletic last week. “It’s quiet. It’s peaceful.”

Bey’s new pastime, though, is part of a bigger plan. He didn’t seek out hiking. That just comes with the environment he temporarily calls home. Bey also didn’t spin a globe, close his eyes and move to whichever state his finger landed on. It was all strategic and picked with basketball in mind. In that world, Colorado is known for its altitude. At higher elevations, breathing isn’t easy. Fatigues sets in quicker. If someone is in shape in Colorado, they’re in shape everywhere.

Technically, yeah, Bey did find a new hobby. It’s just one that he hopes will enhance the hobby he loves most.

“I wanted to try something different,” Bey said. “I’ve been doing the same things every summer. I had the opportunity to be able to go and work out someplace else. I thought this was the best spot.”

The high-altitude training wasn’t recommended to Bey by anyone. Being in the NBA, he’s learned firsthand the difficulty that can come with playing in cities well above sea level.

Bey made the decision shortly after the season ended and asked Pistons video coordinator Aaron Dotson to go with him. Bey lives on the top floor of the Airbnb, Dotson on the bottom. During the NBA Playoffs, the two would meet in the middle to watch games. Then they’d then go back to their spaces until 3:45 am when their separate alarms went off, because Bey likes to lift weights before touching a basketball. By 5 a.m., Bey and Dotson started their on-court workout. The two would work out until, roughly, 8 a.m., when the Colorado men’s basketball team would take the floor. Bey and Dotson would come back to campus for a second workout in the afternoon.

Once a week, the two would sprinkle in a hiking trip.

“We went on a three-mile hike. I thought I was going to pass out,” Dotson told The Athletic. “He kept stopping and waiting for me. I was telling him just to go and I’d meet him at the top. When he got there, he was taking pictures and smiling. Each time we make it up to the top, he’s always in awe. Nothing else matters, not basketball or money.”

They also picked up fishing.

“He’s not a great fisher,” Dotson said of Bey.

How is someone bad at fishing?

“I don’t know, but he struggles.”

Living in isolation in the Colorado mountains was Bey’s way of meeting the Pistons halfway. He can’t drop basketball. He’s just not wired that way. However, this new adventure has given him tranquility and allowed him to reset. Bey was in a place of relaxation, but he was out there working, too.

Dotson said that the on-court workouts he and Bey go through have primarily focused on ballhandling and getting Bey’s shot off quicker. Bey isn’t a secret anymore. It’s hard to be when you’ve got a 51-point performance under your belt, as well as several 30-point games. Detroit head coach Dwane Casey wants to utilize Bey more as a pick-and-roll creator in Year 3, so Bey and Dotson have gone through hundreds and thousands of reps in various situations. Bey, a knockdown shooter dating back to high school, was a bit streaky from 3 last season and, at times, felt rushed when letting shots fly. Defenses had Bey higher on the scouting report. The close-outs were more suffocating than they were his rookie season. Bey isn’t interested in that type of inconsistency again.

“He’s such a worker,” Dotson said. “He just wanted a new challenge. The first week we got to the mountains, it was tough.”

Bey said he feels like he’s in the best shape of his life. The altitude did its job. He now plans on being back with the team in Detroit following Summer League, leaving the scenic views of Boulder behind.

The Pistons are prepping for a potentially pivotal season in the franchise’s push back toward relevance. Bey is a candidate for a breakout season. For the team to turn a corner, Bey will need to take another step.

He knows that, and it’s why he couldn’t leave the game alone. Not even for a moment.

“I’m just always in the gym,” Bey said. “It’s hard for me to find another hobby. This was the best that I could do.”

 

[Deleterious]

Nice touch at RealGM.  They now include the teams own picks in future draft picks.

[Deleterious]

The Knicks have 7 first round picks they can trade.  And it would be such a Knicks move too.  Both starting guards at 6'1" and neither one plays a lick of defense.