RealGM

Top of East better, bottom of East worse. We might be in the play-in race by default this year.

It's still early and we still don't know how we will use our remaining $50 million of cap space.

There's a clear 7 playoff locks atop the East.

1. Boston
2. New York
3. Philly
4. Milwaukee
5. Indiana
6. Orlando
7. Cleveland

Then theres a bit of drop off possible and you have Miami, possibly with a disgruntled Butler in his final year with the team not wanting to extend him. You still expect Spo to get them to that #8 seed and play-in they are clearly better than the teams below.

8. Miami

-----

After that it really feels like a crap shoot for the 9-15 spots.

Chicago: Traded away Caruso, they owe a lottery pick its in their best interest to be bad
Brooklyn: They traded away Bridges and got their picks back signaling a rebuild and possible tank
Washington: Still early in on the rebuild and tank and almost certainly going to be a bottom 3 team in the East again
Atlanta: Traded away their best player in Murray and will be playing a young project #1 pick heavy minutes
Charlotte: Up and coming young talent but possibly will lose Bridges this summer (TBD) and likely will improve slightly on 21 wins.
Raptors: A full year without Siakam and OG and they are also young and in the rebuild stages about 30 wins seems likely.
Detroit: Horrible last year, but with several other bottom half of East teams taking steps back and a new coach they might be right in the mix for the play-in.

Chicago, Atlanta, and Charlotte are all currently still better than us, imo. Brooklyn, Washington, Raptors it's less clear. Depends on if we're historically bad again or just fairly bad.

Indy & Orl have young stars they are building around. Cleveland & Miami both feel like treadmill teams. I doubt either makes a significant move, but they both should.

If you are Cleveland what is your gameplan? Your guards are good, but not good enough. Your bigs are good, but not good enough. What's the path fwd here?

MIA will keep scrapping and will somehow make another Finals appearance in the next 2-3 years. *shrug*

Someone should out tank us this year but we're probably looking at another 20 win season

Could argue that we should be better than Brooklyn and maybe Washington. We haven't upgraded enough to hope for anything more than that.

So far, we maxed Cade, took BPA (possibly poor fit) in the draft, and filled salary via taking on unwanted assets for late picks.

Every choice seems exactly as Weaver would have done. Why did we fire him again?

Patrick27 wrote:Could argue that we should be better than Brooklyn and maybe Washington. We haven't upgraded enough to hope for anything more than that.

So far, we maxed Cade, took BPA (possibly poor fit) in the draft, and filled salary via taking on unwanted assets for late picks.

Every choice seems exactly as Weaver would have done. Why did we fire him again?

Just like the press conference…… we’re going to do this….. and this…… and this…… and this…… what do you get?

A little bit of the long game(Holland)
A little bit of asset gathering (THJ trade)
A little bit of committing money long term (Cade)
A little bit of overpaying free agents (Harris)

What’s that all add up to? A Directionless franchise.

Zero’s the bet for current players left when the Pistons finally win a playoff series……

JennetteMcCurdy wrote:

Patrick27 wrote:Could argue that we should be better than Brooklyn and maybe Washington. We haven't upgraded enough to hope for anything more than that.

So far, we maxed Cade, took BPA (possibly poor fit) in the draft, and filled salary via taking on unwanted assets for late picks.

Every choice seems exactly as Weaver would have done. Why did we fire him again?

Just like the press conference…… we’re going to do this….. and this…… and this…… and this…… what do you get?

A little bit of the long game(Holland)
A little bit of asset gathering (THJ trade)
A little bit of committing money long term (Cade)
A little bit of overpaying free agents (Harris)

What’s that all add up to? A Directionless franchise.

Zero’s the bet for current players left when the Pistons finally win a playoff series……

"Directionless franchise". A hilarious summarization.
The front office has been turned over, roster moves have been made, and it has been proven to be a catastrophe! It has been established as fact, folks! All hope is lost, 24 hours into free agency...

Cowology wrote:Indy & Orl have young stars they are building around. Cleveland & Miami both feel like treadmill teams. I doubt either makes a significant move, but they both should.

If you are Cleveland what is your gameplan? Your guards are good, but not good enough. Your bigs are good, but not good enough. What's the path fwd here?

MIA will keep scrapping and will somehow make another Finals appearance in the next 2-3 years. *shrug*

I think Cleveland has “enough” talent, it just doesn’t fit particularly well together. Particularly their backcourt.

As for us, I think we’re still easily a bottom 5 team. I wouldn’t worry about us winning “too many” games. The lotto system doesn’t punish being in that 5 range like it used to.

TPA wrote:

JennetteMcCurdy wrote:

Patrick27 wrote:Could argue that we should be better than Brooklyn and maybe Washington. We haven't upgraded enough to hope for anything more than that.

So far, we maxed Cade, took BPA (possibly poor fit) in the draft, and filled salary via taking on unwanted assets for late picks.

Every choice seems exactly as Weaver would have done. Why did we fire him again?

Just like the press conference…… we’re going to do this….. and this…… and this…… and this…… what do you get?

A little bit of the long game(Holland)
A little bit of asset gathering (THJ trade)
A little bit of committing money long term (Cade)
A little bit of overpaying free agents (Harris)

What’s that all add up to? A Directionless franchise.

Zero’s the bet for current players left when the Pistons finally win a playoff series……

"Directionless franchise". A hilarious summarization.
The front office has been turned over, roster moves have been made, and it has been proven to be a catastrophe! It has been established as fact, folks! All hope is lost, 24 hours into free agency...

Leadership by dart throwing

JennetteMcCurdy wrote:

TPA wrote:

JennetteMcCurdy wrote:
Just like the press conference…… we’re going to do this….. and this…… and this…… and this…… what do you get?

A little bit of the long game(Holland)
A little bit of asset gathering (THJ trade)
A little bit of committing money long term (Cade)
A little bit of overpaying free agents (Harris)

What’s that all add up to? A Directionless franchise.

Zero’s the bet for current players left when the Pistons finally win a playoff series……

"Directionless franchise". A hilarious summarization.
The front office has been turned over, roster moves have been made, and it has been proven to be a catastrophe! It has been established as fact, folks! All hope is lost, 24 hours into free agency...

Leadership by dart throwing

Quarterbacking by armchair.

TPA wrote:

JennetteMcCurdy wrote:

TPA wrote:"Directionless franchise". A hilarious summarization.
The front office has been turned over, roster moves have been made, and it has been proven to be a catastrophe! It has been established as fact, folks! All hope is lost, 24 hours into free agency...

Leadership by dart throwing

Quarterbacking by armchair.

Ah the irony

“For you see, Jeannette *is* an arm chair!”

If the Pistons are in the race for the play-in, several east teams have hit rock bottom, and JB is coaching his ass off.

My feelings is that they will indeed be in the race for the play-in, for about a week to start the season.

zeebneeb wrote:If the Pistons are in the race for the play-in, several east teams have hit rock bottom, and JB is coaching his ass off.

My feelings is that they will indeed be in the race for the play-in, for about a week to start the season.

I also think the top 7 teams are pretty strong next year we could get 7 teams in the East with 50 wins which means the bottom of the East will be pretty bad. The #10 seed could very possibly only have 30 to 32 wins.

30 wins would be a massive leap for us. Hard to see it

buzzkilloton wrote:

Read on Twitter

We better not get screwed in the lottery again

This next draft is our chance to change everything

MotownMadness wrote:

buzzkilloton wrote:[/tweet]

We better not get screwed in the lottery again

This next draft is our chance to change everything

It seems like its going to be a class with not only star power at the top but should run fairly deep. Hopefully something like 2021 with Flagg being a even better prospect then Cade but then you run down to like 4-7 and you can still get guys like Kuminga/Barnes/Wagner etc,

Still would be nice to get a top 2 pick rather than #5 or lower