The Pistons could regret their biggest offseason move

[zeebneeb]

Man, preseason means a ton now.

Apparently.

[ComboGuardCity]

Lol teenagers without NBA money didn’t even want to come to us. They legitamately were willing to take less guaranteed money on their first and potentially only deal to not go to the Pistons. Our image is so tarnished that Cap Space isn’t going to matter for a while, let alone the marginal money we would’ve saved bartering with Cade.

[whitehops]

Lol teenagers without NBA money didn’t even want to come to us. They legitamately were willing to take less guaranteed money on their first and potentially only deal to not go to the Pistons. Our image is so tarnished that Cap Space isn’t going to matter for a while, let alone the marginal money we would’ve saved bartering with Cade.

to be honest i'm shocked tobias harris was willing to come here, i wonder if the other offers he got weren't in the same ballpark.

[Snakebites]

We already have a pretty good idea what the "bad ending" for the Cade extension looks like.

Hopefully that's not what ends up happening.

[Snakebites]

Lol teenagers without NBA money didn’t even want to come to us. They legitamately were willing to take less guaranteed money on their first and potentially only deal to not go to the Pistons. Our image is so tarnished that Cap Space isn’t going to matter for a while, let alone the marginal money we would’ve saved bartering with Cade.

to be honest i'm shocked tobias harris was willing to come here, i wonder if the other offers he got weren't in the same ballpark.

Tobias still has some Michigan connections and his value took a massive hit last season (especially in the playoffs). My suspicion we got him because of a combination of those two things. I'd be curious to see who his other suitors were (if any) and what they might have been willing to offer.

It's pretty clear a lot of guys didn't want to be here though. There are a number of guys who got deals within our price range who would have fit with us who we were never even linked to- and I doubt that's because we had no interest. We already know there were young players who didn't want to work out with us. Heck, it looks like Holland was one of them (we never worked him out).

That's a stigma that isn't going to wash until we start doing better. It's as simple as that. This is the price of being this bad for this long, and the price of the full-on disfunction we saw with the team last year.

This is why tanking really isn't an option this year. There are things that matter more than lottery balls. We've been labeled as a team that doesn't WANT to compete. And no player wants to be on a team like that.

[mattao313]

Most #1 drafted players you see the talent from day 1. Zeke wasn't drafted #1 but you saw the glimpse of greatness the first day he stepped on the court. Not only did you see the basketball skill you saw the toughness and drive to be great. I don't see that in Cade. All I hear is Cade is a leader blah, blah, blah. I think he is soft and I'm not hating. I'm calling what I see. Folks said we overpaid because no stars would come here, bullshet! We don't need stars...I'm sure most bear-witness the greatness of the 2004 team. Most the roster were cast-offs players.

Again, I don't believe Cade is a franchise player. He's the quintessential jack of all trades, master of nothing and without toughness you're just an avg Joe imo

The jack of all trades thing is so spot on he's solid at alot of things but has no elite skills or traits to hang his hat on imo he definitely isn't a franchise player more of a third type guy.

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[whitehops]

That's a stigma that isn't going to wash until we start doing better. It's as simple as that. This is the price of being this bad for this long, and the price of the full-on disfunction we saw with the team last year.

This is why tanking really isn't an option this year. There are things that matter more than lottery balls. We've been labeled as a team that doesn't WANT to compete. And no player wants to be on a team like that.

yeah league-wide you had agents advising their clients not to come here. it's still early but i'm hopeful because it seems that trajan and bickerstaff are serious about competing, even if it'll take some time for that to translate to wins. we're not going to repair our image with the snap of a finger but it should be a step in the right direction.

and with the lottery odds so flattened out it would be silly to prioritize tanking over improving the culture/stigma.

[FarBeyondDriven]

I was never too big a fan of Cunningham's because he has that I'm too good for this or too cool for school look as if he's trying to portray how cool as a cucumber he is and it all comes so easy to me b.s. No player that exhibits this ever wins a championship. I feel like I'm seeing a fire in his eyes now though. He's clearly your best player and getting capable vets around him, while it won't make you contenders or even a good team, it will help unlock his game so he can take it to the next level. Now you just have to hope one of these kids around him can develop into a #2 and #3 and you'll have something to work with finally.

[Snakebites]

I was never too big a fan of Cunningham's because he has that I'm too good for this or too cool for school look as if he's trying to portray how cool as a cucumber he is and it all comes so easy to me b.s. No player that exhibits this ever wins a championship. I feel like I'm seeing a fire in his eyes now though. He's clearly your best player and getting capable vets around him, while it won't make you contenders or even a good team, it will help unlock his game so he can take it to the next level. Now you just have to hope one of these kids around him can develop into a #2 and #3 and you'll have something to work with finally.

There's plenty of valid criticisms one could make about Cade's game and what he's shown so far.

"Vibes" has never really held a high place on that list though.

[SAKURABA216]

Cade deserves his money. If he went to the Rockets instead of the Pistons they would be a lock to make the playoffs in the West. Cade is the team's best player and was the #1 pick in a loaded draft class and has never bad-mouthed the city of Detroit or the team for failing to add any good players until this last off-season. The least this franchise can do is pay the man.

[Uncle Mxy]

I'm just glad that Cade isn't starting slow.

[Rip32]

I'm just glad that Cade isn't starting slow.

He's not; however, when the oppositions defense tightens up, Cade goes limp. You define a clutch player coming thru when the game tightens up.

[Laimbeer]

Kellerstrass is a rather good writer in my opinion. I suppose it's gratuitous to review what potential disaster looks like for the Cade extension. Still, he admits the Pistons had little real choice but to extend Cade and hope his "oft injured" history is resolved. I think he's Just another Pistons fan resentful of the team's recent futility.

Simply not true. They could have and should have waited a year.

[Kp junior]

Is he unfit to start the season again? Any chance he could use a professional trainer rather than his cousin?
Those shots all falling short at the end of the game looks like fitness to me.


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[Snakebites]

I'm just glad that Cade isn't starting slow.

Needs to get those turnover numbers down but both the eye test and the stats show he's looking terrific as a scorer.

I'd like to see more fourth quarter output from him but on the other hand others need to step up and help out in that regard too. He's not Luka.

[Invictus88]

Is he unfit to start the season again? Any chance he could use a professional trainer rather than his cousin?
Those shots all falling short at the end of the game looks like fitness to me.


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Agree with this. Legs going due to fatigue make you front-rim shots. Cade has reliably started doing this so far this season later in 2nd halfs. It's a fitness issue or a lack of focus due to fatigue. Either way it's addressed via better conditioning.

Maybe he gains these legs as the season goes on? But one thing he needs to do is have the self-awareness to recognize when this is happening and go elsewhere / more towards the basket and kick out.

I think that if he were to solve this problem and play to his capacity for entire games he'd average over 30 per game easily. And his efficiency would go way up just by removing tired/desperation shots.

Cade's Stats by Quarter:
1st: 50% fg, 66.7% 3pt, 100% ft, 2.3 ast 1.8 TOV -0.5 8.9 Mins
2nd: 47.6% fg, 60% 3pt, 100% ft, 2 ast 1.3 TOV -4.3 8.7 Mins
3rd: 68% fg, 28.6% 3pt, 100% ft 2.8 ast 1.3 TOV +4.3 9.9 Mins
4th: 28% fg, 11.1% 3pt, 50% ft 0.5 ast 1.5 TOV -6.5 9.2 Mins

Small 4 game sample but his legs start to go in the 3rd w.r.t to 3pt shots and are completely dead everywhere by the 4th quarter.

[Fennis Dembo]

I'm just glad that Cade isn't starting slow.

He's not; however, when the oppositions defense tightens up, Cade goes limp. You define a clutch player coming thru when the game tightens up.

Except the tactic they use when they tighten up is to run a second guy at Cade and let other players miss wide open shots. Cade needs to get better, to be sure, but so far this season he's got a new couple vet shooters that can't shoot. I'd like to see more focus getting Ivey more of those shots.