No clue how to fix this...

[kpt]

Usually, I can see a plan and the process of the becoming better even if it isnt in the win column. I literally cant make an educated logical plan (No adding Curry, Victor, Jokic, etc) on how to fix this team. This is not going to be a short journey. We have taken the best player available in the recent drafts leaving us with a bunch square pegs and round holes. We do not have complimentary pieces and big voids in team ball. Please enlighten me if you can make sense on how this team can turn a corner.

[vege]

It's not difficult. Ballance the roster. Get players who can defend and shoot to play around the guy you drafted to be your franchise player.

There are a bunch of those who can be acquired cheap. We have a lot of expirings, we have the Mem/Was 2nd which is basically a late 1st, sadly we don't have our own 2nd, but we have a collection of 2nds and expirings to use in trades.

Alex Caruso and Jerami Grant are 2 examples. Jevonte Carter is another one.

Stop playing inept players like Killian/Bagley/Wiseman.

Jalen Duren
Jerami Grant - remember the guy we traded for a bag of cheetos and raw cap space that we use to sign Joe Harris? We could use him right now
Ausar Thompson
Alex Caruso - need to be upgraded later (probably Ivey become a legit starter at some point once he is less lost on defense) but baby steps first
Cade Cunningham

With

Isaiah Stewart - HE IS NOT A PF AND HE DOES NOT SPACE THE FLOOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Isaiah Livers - need to be upgraded later
Jaden Ivey
Monte Morris - play Ivey 35 mpg untill Morris is back, 3 guards rotation, even when Morris is back, play a bunch of 3 guards lineup and give Ivey plenty of minutes as long as he is improving on defense his offense has always been fine

That is not a team that will get embarrassed by the Washington Wizards led by Kuzman and Jordan Poole.

Stop giving Eggs to your coach and ask him to make a lemonade. Give him lemons. Guys who can defend and shoot and have the proper skillset to play their designated position/role.

Gary Harris is another option and Jonathan Isaac is super risk, but he is everything we need as a player. Isaac and Ausar could be the best defensive duo ever in a few years.

[bstein14]

We will have another top 5 pick and $60+ million in cap space this summer.

#1 Trade that pick for for a recent #2 draft pick lottery bust that just hasn't shown their potential yet to add to Weaver's collection (likely candidates include D'Angelo Russell, Lonzo Ball, Jalen Green or Brandon Miller)
#2 Sign Hayes and Wiseman to four year deals to lock up our bench mob.
#3 Use that cap space to absorb vets and get a few 2nd round picks back.
#4 Rinse & Repeat and start scouting the 2025 draft.

[GreekAlex]

It's not difficult. Ballance the roster. Get players who can defend and shoot to play around the guy you drafted to be your franchise player.

There are a bunch of those who can be acquired cheap. We have a lot of expirings, we have the Mem/Was 2nd which is basically a late 1st, sadly we don't have our own 2nd, but we have a collection of 2nds and expirings to use in trades.

Alex Caruso and Jerami Grant are 2 examples. Jevonte Carter is another one.

Stop playing inept players like Killian/Bagley/Wiseman.

Jalen Duren
Jerami Grant - remember the guy we traded for a bag of cheetos and raw cap space that we use to sign Joe Harris? We could use him right now
Ausar Thompson
Alex Caruso - need to be upgraded later (probably Ivey become a legit starter at some point once he is less lost on defense) but baby steps first
Cade Cunningham

With

Isaiah Stewart - HE IS NOT A PF AND HE DOES NOT SPACE THE FLOOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Isaiah Livers - need to be upgraded later
Jaden Ivey
Monte Morris - play Ivey 35 mpg untill Morris is back, 3 guards rotation, even when Morris is back, play a bunch of 3 guards lineup and give Ivey plenty of minutes as long as he is improving on defense his offense has always been fine

That is not a team that will get embarrassed by the Washington Wizards led by Kuzman and Jordan Poole.

Stop giving Eggs to your coach and ask him to make a lemonade. Give him lemons. Guys who can defend and shoot and have the proper skillset to play their designated position/role.

Gary Harris is another option and Jonathan Isaac is super risk, but he is everything we need as a player. Isaac and Ausar could be the best defensive duo ever in a few years.

I’m game.

What are the realistic trades that will net us Grant & Caruso?

[theBigLip]

We will have another top 5 pick and $60+ million in cap space this summer.

#1 Trade that pick for for a recent #2 draft pick lottery bust that just hasn't shown their potential yet to add to Weaver's collection (likely candidates include D'Angelo Russell, Lonzo Ball, Jalen Green or Brandon Miller)
#2 Sign Hayes and Wiseman to four year deals to lock up our bench mob.
#3 Use that cap space to absorb vets and get a few 2nd round picks back.
#4 Rinse & Repeat and start scouting the 2025 draft.

Isn’t the text supposed to be green?

[vege]

It's not difficult. Ballance the roster. Get players who can defend and shoot to play around the guy you drafted to be your franchise player.

There are a bunch of those who can be acquired cheap. We have a lot of expirings, we have the Mem/Was 2nd which is basically a late 1st, sadly we don't have our own 2nd, but we have a collection of 2nds and expirings to use in trades.

Alex Caruso and Jerami Grant are 2 examples. Jevonte Carter is another one.

Stop playing inept players like Killian/Bagley/Wiseman.

Jalen Duren
Jerami Grant - remember the guy we traded for a bag of cheetos and raw cap space that we use to sign Joe Harris? We could use him right now
Ausar Thompson
Alex Caruso - need to be upgraded later (probably Ivey become a legit starter at some point once he is less lost on defense) but baby steps first
Cade Cunningham

With

Isaiah Stewart - HE IS NOT A PF AND HE DOES NOT SPACE THE FLOOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Isaiah Livers - need to be upgraded later
Jaden Ivey
Monte Morris - play Ivey 35 mpg untill Morris is back, 3 guards rotation, even when Morris is back, play a bunch of 3 guards lineup and give Ivey plenty of minutes as long as he is improving on defense his offense has always been fine

That is not a team that will get embarrassed by the Washington Wizards led by Kuzman and Jordan Poole.

Stop giving Eggs to your coach and ask him to make a lemonade. Give him lemons. Guys who can defend and shoot and have the proper skillset to play their designated position/role.

Gary Harris is another option and Jonathan Isaac is super risk, but he is everything we need as a player. Isaac and Ausar could be the best defensive duo ever in a few years.

I’m game.

What are the realistic trades that will net us Grant & Caruso?

Burks for assets
Bojan for assets in a few weeks after teams see him playing for a while
Sasser for assets if needed

Expirings + Mem/Wiz 2nd + other 2nds for Grant assets from Sasser if needed (I doubt it's needed considering Grant's contract)
Expirings + assets from Burks and Bojan for Caruso eat Lonzo's contract if needed

[GreekAlex]

It's not difficult. Ballance the roster. Get players who can defend and shoot to play around the guy you drafted to be your franchise player.

There are a bunch of those who can be acquired cheap. We have a lot of expirings, we have the Mem/Was 2nd which is basically a late 1st, sadly we don't have our own 2nd, but we have a collection of 2nds and expirings to use in trades.

Alex Caruso and Jerami Grant are 2 examples. Jevonte Carter is another one.

Stop playing inept players like Killian/Bagley/Wiseman.

Jalen Duren
Jerami Grant - remember the guy we traded for a bag of cheetos and raw cap space that we use to sign Joe Harris? We could use him right now
Ausar Thompson
Alex Caruso - need to be upgraded later (probably Ivey become a legit starter at some point once he is less lost on defense) but baby steps first
Cade Cunningham

With

Isaiah Stewart - HE IS NOT A PF AND HE DOES NOT SPACE THE FLOOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Isaiah Livers - need to be upgraded later
Jaden Ivey
Monte Morris - play Ivey 35 mpg untill Morris is back, 3 guards rotation, even when Morris is back, play a bunch of 3 guards lineup and give Ivey plenty of minutes as long as he is improving on defense his offense has always been fine

That is not a team that will get embarrassed by the Washington Wizards led by Kuzman and Jordan Poole.

Stop giving Eggs to your coach and ask him to make a lemonade. Give him lemons. Guys who can defend and shoot and have the proper skillset to play their designated position/role.

Gary Harris is another option and Jonathan Isaac is super risk, but he is everything we need as a player. Isaac and Ausar could be the best defensive duo ever in a few years.

I’m game.

What are the realistic trades that will net us Grant & Caruso?

Burks for assets
Bojan for assets in a few weeks after teams see him playing for a while
Sasser for assets if needed

Expirings + Mem/Wiz 2nd + other 2nds for Grant assets from Sasser if needed (I doubt it's needed considering Grant's contract)
Expirings + assets from Burks and Bojan for Caruso eat Lonzo's contract if needed

I hope you’re right. I’d be thrilled if it could be done all while keeping Sasser, avoiding the Lonzo contract and not giving up any of our own FRPs.

[Absolutia]

I see a team that looks broken and has clear issues of confidence. They need to get their minds right and this won't be fixed by making trades.

I think that the most likely problem is the coach.

[bstein14]

I see a team that looks broken and has clear issues of confidence. They need to get their minds right and this won't be fixed by making trades.

I think that the most likely problem is the coach.

It's hard to imagine Casey having this team being worse than it is right now.

[whitehops]

i think replacing weaver is the first step. he did well to re-set the books but since then he's passed up every opportunity to improve the roster. going into the season with duren/bagley/wiseman as your centers is like roster-building malpractice. duren is still very much learning the defensive side of the ball and bagley/wiseman are horrible there and haven't shown an ounce of development in that area in their years in the league. it's actually a slap in the face to hear weaver preach defense so much and then roll with those as your centers for the year.

[NYPiston]

It's not difficult. Ballance the roster. Get players who can defend and shoot to play around the guy you drafted to be your franchise player.

There are a bunch of those who can be acquired cheap. We have a lot of expirings, we have the Mem/Was 2nd which is basically a late 1st, sadly we don't have our own 2nd, but we have a collection of 2nds and expirings to use in trades.

Alex Caruso and Jerami Grant are 2 examples. Jevonte Carter is another one.

Stop playing inept players like Killian/Bagley/Wiseman.

Jalen Duren
Jerami Grant - remember the guy we traded for a bag of cheetos and raw cap space that we use to sign Joe Harris? We could use him right now
Ausar Thompson
Alex Caruso - need to be upgraded later (probably Ivey become a legit starter at some point once he is less lost on defense) but baby steps first
Cade Cunningham

With

Isaiah Stewart - HE IS NOT A PF AND HE DOES NOT SPACE THE FLOOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Isaiah Livers - need to be upgraded later
Jaden Ivey
Monte Morris - play Ivey 35 mpg untill Morris is back, 3 guards rotation, even when Morris is back, play a bunch of 3 guards lineup and give Ivey plenty of minutes as long as he is improving on defense his offense has always been fine

That is not a team that will get embarrassed by the Washington Wizards led by Kuzman and Jordan Poole.

Stop giving Eggs to your coach and ask him to make a lemonade. Give him lemons. Guys who can defend and shoot and have the proper skillset to play their designated position/role.

Gary Harris is another option and Jonathan Isaac is super risk, but he is everything we need as a player. Isaac and Ausar could be the best defensive duo ever in a few years.

This is a good rundown although we will always agree to disagree about the Grant trade, the 1st they traded him for was flipped for Duren so it wasn't just a box of cheerios but I digress.

In any event, they need quality vets that play specific roles. In this case, Grant would be the 3 and D and Caruso the lockdown defender to allow Cade more offensive freedom although I question if Caruso is a starter in this league but, yeah, in general they need a few quality vets to balance out the youth, vets that can actually be healthy and play the games not whatever the heck is going on with Bogey and Morris.

The big issue with making a trade is that there's restrictions on trading their 1st so they can't do much until that stupid thing conveys or they get it back in a trade from, the Knicks now? Free agency is tough for the Pistons and they don't have many assets outside of the 1st so it's tough to make a franchise altering trade unless one of the core young guys is going the other way.

[zeebneeb]

Dillon Brooks next to Cade would have been amazing.

You can fix something that's broken. Alternator went? Replace. Crack in a plug wire? Replace. Radiator blown, cooling lines cut, brake lines worn, ball-joints, tie-rod end boot torn, no grease, fixable.

Car in a head-on collision at 60 with a semi?

Yeah, no mechanic in the world can fix that, you replace it.

This team hit that semi about 5 games ago, we just haven't realized it yet.

[vege]

I see a team that looks broken and has clear issues of confidence. They need to get their minds right and this won't be fixed by making trades.

I think that the most likely problem is the coach.

The problem is the roster doe not fit what the coach want to do, and doe not fit with our franchise player.

So the problem is who assembled that roster and the guy above him. Tellem and Weaver need to go, they're stealing Gores money and that's all they're doing.

[Absolutia]

I see a team that looks broken and has clear issues of confidence. They need to get their minds right and this won't be fixed by making trades.

I think that the most likely problem is the coach.

The problem is the roster doe not fit what the coach want to do, and doe not fit with our franchise player.

So the problem is who assembled that roster and the guy above him. Tellem and Weaver need to go, they're stealing Gores money and that's all they're doing.

I have no reason to believe that Monty would use the roster correctly whoever he had to choose from. Using Killian Hayes as a shooting guard; playing Cade for 40 minutes per night while gassed and playing terribly; barely using Jaden Ivey; having Ausar standing at the perimeter and hoisting what are effectively turnovers; removing players that are playing well before it's neccessary and then not having them play meanignful minutes again? He seems like someone that likes being at odds with people.

[Piston Pete]

If we draft a difference-maker PF next offseason. Our core becomes:

Ivey
Cade
Ausar
*PF*
Duren

We need a stretch-4 who can play at least average defense.

Then we need Ausar to develop a legit corner-3 ball. He needs to find a way to hit these shots efficiently enough he doesn’t remain a negative on offense.

[breezypeezy]

For an extended period I deluded myself into thinking that Cade/Duren/Auser/Ivey might be building blocks that just needed better shooters and some great defender to compliment them.

I have given up on that, if we cannot even compete with the Wizards then the rebuild is hopeless with these guys.
And it gets worse on the roster from evetyone after them.

We cannot win NBA games with those core prospects and every hack you sub in is even worse.

Fire, waive, release, fire sale all of them. There is nothing and noone salvageable for winning basketball.

The league should boot the franchise for a developmental team and let them replace these Pistons. What this organization has done to the fanbase is borderline evil and indefensible.

Eta: The team has broken me as a fan, if they dont care, why should I anymore, I need to stop looking at this toxicity.

[Kalamazoo317]

I'm currently not sure if:

1. Cade is capable of being efficient enough on offense and competent enough on defense to build around as a #1 or #2
2. Ausar and Duren can successfully coexist in a modern NBA offense as two non-shooters

And those three are the "cornerstones" ....

[FloridaMan78]

Cade’s a good player. I don’t see him being a star player. Balancing the roster would maybe make us competitive, but would that make us contenders? We still need that #1 guy.

A star free agent ain’t coming to this team. We could get lucky and sign a rising talent free agent or trade for one. Or we keep sucking and find one in the draft.

Firing Weaver would give them an excuse to keep sucking for another couple years. 2025 Cooper Flagg or Boozer would be ideal. 2024 draft sucks.

[bstein14]

I'm currently not sure if:

1. Cade is capable of being efficient enough on offense and competent enough on defense to build around as a #1 or #2
2. Ausar and Duren can successfully coexist in a modern NBA offense as two non-shooters

And those three are the "cornerstones" ....

C: Duren(27) / Stew(21)
PF: Grant(31) / Livers(17)
SF: Ausar(31) / Burks(17)
SG: Bojan(27) / Ivey(21)
PG: Cade(31) / Morris(17)

If we had Cade as a third option with Grant getting about 15 shots per game, Bojan getting 14 shots per game, Cade getting 13 shots per game... I think he looks much better as a guy who can pick and choose and let two other vets be more of the focal point on a pretty spread out and balance offense.

[Sort]

At this point Pistons need to start by finding a new GM. Nobody needs to look much at the Pistons to see poor use of cap space, a lack of talent, and for the talent that is there, a lack of a balanced roster and roles. That mess was created by one man, and we still owe a first despite clearly being the worst team in the league.

By contrast, look at OKC: all the first round picks, second round picks, the second youngest starting line up (we are older), and the third best record in the west.

Weaver has not just been outplayed, he has been out lapped repeatedly.