Should we really be trying to make the playoffs/play in?

[A_dub06]

In a year featuring 2 unbelievable prospects in draft being the alien Victor Wembenyama and Scoot Henderson, plus multiple high level players should we really be trying to make a push to win as many games as possible?

Just to make it clear, I’m not saying that there should be a mandate on Casey to deliberately throw games or start subbing out players that start getting hot, more just playing our youth as much as possible and trying to develop as many young guys as possible. We have multiple pieces now, but I don’t think a team featuring Cade and Ivey as your top two players will ever materialise to being a championship team. Cades going to be a really good player that I’m sure of, and the more I watch Ivey I think he’ll turn out to be a nice piece as well, but we still need another top tier player that can play with them.

The Bojan trade is an obvious win in terms of assets, but if he’s going to be getting 30+ mins a night which comes at the expense of guys like Livers, Bagley and even Diallo as a small ball 3, I think it’d an awfully wasted opportunity. In a season where many teams will be deliberately tanking, we will rack up numerous meaningless wins which to me is no different to the pistons of seasons past where we went on to win 7-8 out of the last 10 games of the season against teams tanking and all we do is worsen our draft stock. We are not a playoff team just yet, so at best we make the play-in to get bounced out in the first round. Is that outcome really worth having a better chance at picking VW?

Personally I see our time to ascend the ladder as starting next season where we will have cap space, a really young squad with another lotto pick coming our way. Hopefully free agents see us as a landing spot but given the history of this teams fee agency success I think we almost have no choice but to build from the draft.

There is a case to be made that VW has really injury risk or maybe Scoot isn’t as good as advertised and I can understand people having that perspective but I just feel the risk vs reward is worth developing our young guys another year even if that means big losing streaks, to the betterment of improved draft stock. I think the team is poised to give Bojan and Burks (when healthy) big minutes and that is foolish to me given what we would be playing ourselves out of.

I’m interested to hear people thoughts on this given all info coming out of the teams screams this is a “go for it” season.

[flow]

We can try all we want. It ain't happening. Not with this coach. Rest easy.

[A_dub06]

We can try all we want. It ain't happening. Not with this coach. Rest easy.

I don’t think it is either, but what worries me is the team trying for it and picking up meaningless wins only to then still miss out of the play-in whilst damaging our draft stock in the process.

[Pharaoh]

We can try all we want. It ain't happening. Not with this coach. Rest easy.

I don’t think it is either, but what worries me is the team trying for it and picking up meaningless wins only to then still miss out of the play-in whilst damaging our draft stock in the process.

Since Weaver got here that hasn't happened

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[mattao313]

We can try all we want. It ain't happening. Not with this coach. Rest easy.

I honestly don't think it's the coaches fault

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[dVs33]

The team will only go as far as Cade and the young guys can take them. To me bojan, burks and Noel are just complimentary vets that will fill roles, add a bit of leadership and push the youngins. They aren’t carrying the team.
If cade and co can make the play in, go for it.
We have solid kids and we need them to develop, that’s a sure thing. Hoping for lottery balls isn’t.

[A_dub06]

We can try all we want. It ain't happening. Not with this coach. Rest easy.

I don’t think it is either, but what worries me is the team trying for it and picking up meaningless wins only to then still miss out of the play-in whilst damaging our draft stock in the process.

Since Weaver got here that hasn't happened

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Traded for Bojan though? If 33 year old Bojan gets 30+ a night doesn’t that signify what the team is trying for?

[zeebneeb]

I think the Pistons should tank this year, trade Cade for a super high pick in the 2024 draft, tank that year, then if Ivey pans out, trade him for another high pick, and tank in 2025.

I mean, if the team starts winning, they could potentially miss out on generational talent in 23, 24, 25, and beyond.

Sarcasm aside, there are only so many seasons you can tank, before it turns into a trend, and then before you know it, your the Magic, or one of multiple teams that never go anywhere.

Hell, what do I know. Just tired of all losing. Team has sucked since 07' when the team could actually do something. That's 15 damn years. I don't want the team to try and win before its time, but holy crap already.

Now teal is coming back. Can you even imagine that the team is just terrible the year they bring it back? That will go down hilariously. I can already see the damn headlines.

[buzzkilloton]

I dont think Bojan is moving the needle at all really. Hes just going to provide spacing so the young players can develop properly. Its good to have a actual vet that is still good at the game around to teach the young players how to win. We can also flip him at the deadline potentially.

I'm not worried about making the playin at all. This team is way to young. We live in a Pistons bubble alot of other teams have improved just as much or more then us this offseason.

[Pharaoh]

I don’t think it is either, but what worries me is the team trying for it and picking up meaningless wins only to then still miss out of the play-in whilst damaging our draft stock in the process.

Since Weaver got here that hasn't happened

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Traded for Bojan though? If 33 year old Bojan gets 30+ a night doesn’t that signify what the team is trying for?

Is BB better than Grant? Worse?

Assuming that's a wash we've added Burks, Noel & 2 rookies to the roster since last season.

While we're all high on Ivey & Duren fact remains they're rookies.

As I've consistently pointed out the last couple of years: youth does not win in the NBA.

I don't believe we'll be in play in contention, especially given our early schedule

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[theBigLip]

Play-in is best we can expect.
Play hard, trade our vets at the deadline. Young core grows up. We get another lottery pick. Next year is when we should get realistic playoff expectations.

[A_dub06]

I think the Pistons should tank this year, trade Cade for a super high pick in the 2024 draft, tank that year, then if Ivey pans out, trade him for another high pick, and tank in 2025.

I mean, if the team starts winning, they could potentially miss out on generational talent in 23, 24, 25, and beyond.

Sarcasm aside, there are only so many seasons you can tank, before it turns into a trend, and then before you know it, your the Magic, or one of multiple teams that never go anywhere.

Hell, what do I know. Just tired of all losing. Team has sucked since 07' when the team could actually do something. That's 15 damn years. I don't want the team to try and win before its time, but holy crap already.

Now teal is coming back. Can you even imagine that the team is just terrible the year they bring it back? That will go down hilariously. I can already see the damn headlines.

Your sarcasm is lost when you forget that I’m not talking about tanking every season, not really even this season despite definitely being open to it. Read what I wrote and out down your optimistic look aid for a second. This draft has VW who many scouts have already tagged as the best prospect they have seen, and all that it’s going to cost is tanking for one effing season. Is one seaosn really too much to give up while still watching the young guys play, to change this teams ceiling from good to elite? I want our team to become a dynasty, and while I think even with the right players that is difficult to do, it certainly gives us a great chance.

I’m tired of the team being terrible but this is a process, one which if followed to add another too talent next to Cade really has no limit on the potential.

[A_dub06]

Since Weaver got here that hasn't happened

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Traded for Bojan though? If 33 year old Bojan gets 30+ a night doesn’t that signify what the team is trying for?

Is BB better than Grant? Worse?

Assuming that's a wash we've added Burks, Noel & 2 rookies to the roster since last season.

While we're all high on Ivey & Duren fact remains they're rookies.

As I've consistently pointed out the last couple of years: youth does not win in the NBA.

I don't believe we'll be in play in contention, especially given our early schedule

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I would say he would add more wins than Grant does with his spacing via shooting. Even used solely as a spot up shooter, I think he will open the court up enough for the guys like Ivey and Cade to attack the paint. I don’t think he makes this team a playoff team but without him I think this team will struggle that much more.

All I want from this season is playing all the younger guys heavy minutes and restrict the vets playing time. Achieves a better pick and more development so two birds with one stone.

[ElectricMayhem]

Jaden Ivey is going to be a turnover machine this year. Duren is going to be a foul machine this year. I wouldn't worry so much about getting wins. Also, Bojan's bad defense was overlooked in the past because it didn't matter if his guy got past him. Utah had one of the best paint defenders in history ready to fix any defensive mistakes. He doesn't have that luxury in Detroit. I noticed that especially when Obi Toppin easily shook Bojan for an uncontested dunk.

Detroit is going to lose and lose a lot this year. So will Utah, OKC, Orlando, and a bunch of other teams. Top 2 pick is possible but unlikely. There will still be lots of growing pains and lots of whinging about our team's direction here in good ol' f=14 this year.

[bstein14]

I'm all for trying as hard as we can to win games for the first half of the season, and then see where we are at around late January and if we're like 12-28 then trade away some vets and play the young guys more. If we're like 18-22 then I'd keep pushing for the play-ins since we'd just be a few games below .500 half way through the season.

No one is claiming we need to go "all-in" to make the play-ins this year, but I think the general idea that you need to go out on the court and perform at a high enough level to get those minutes or the next guy up will get your minutes is the mindset we should be going in with to start this season.

Casey even alluded to the fact there would be a bit less of playing through mistakes this year and more expectations that you need to go out there and perform on the court and play winning basketball. I don't think we need to give guys the Killian type of guaranteed minutes even if they are young and hurting the team's chances of success.... even though at some point towards the end of the season if we're out of the mix for the play-in I'm fine going heavier minutes for the young guys and more touches for them on offense. If we're 20-42 those last 20 guys when not feed Ivey and Duren a ton of plays on offense and let them get the reps in to get better..... but starting out someone like Duren should mostly be a garbage man high energy big.

[edmunder_prc]

With the rotations and coaching decisions, paired with The Pistons roster - the team is losing a lot of games whether it wants to or not.

My guess is the team looks pretty bad for most of the year and probably looks better by April/May, but part of that is other teams are intentionally tanking.

[Canadafan]

We can try all we want. It ain't happening. Not with this coach. Rest easy.

I honestly don't think it's the coaches fault

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Pretty sure coach Casey knew coming in when he got his 5yr deal what the plan was. Him and Weaver are hand in hand with strategically tanking. I'm pretty confident we're lottery bound again and the fun begins next summer with our massive amounts of cap space and another top pick

[Laimbeer]

We need another top pick. I'm surprised people thought we would even sniff the playoffs this year.

[Sort]

We need another top pick. I'm surprised people thought we would even sniff the playoffs this year.

Yes, I think there will be must-watch nights where the youth shows off their future selves, and Pistons will be worth watching, but this looks like a painful year overall. I really do like the NBA too much for my own good, and I will cheer for any Detroit team first and foremost, but I will have plenty of other teams I watch.

I do like competitive ball above everything else, and right now, I just don't see that. It looks like Bey, Bojan, and Beef Stew will be our staters. That is a a freaking disaster against almost any team in the EC.

[flow]

We can try all we want. It ain't happening. Not with this coach. Rest easy.

I honestly don't think it's the coaches fault

You don't think what's coach's fault?