Bojan extended

[Manocad]

I really like the idea of Bojan being the super sixth man.

1. The bench needs the scoring and if you get Bojan the ball, he obviously can score. Off the bench he can be allowed almost free reign since he won't be competing with Cade, Ivey and Bey for touches 25+ minutes a game.
2. It gets him away from Bey which splits up the weakest defensive tandem.
3. It hopefully moves another big into the starting rotation which should (fingers crossed) further improve the defense/rebounding of the starters. Obviously my preference is Duren but if Stew remains as a starter and it's not going to be Duren at C, then it needs to be Noel.
4. He's a seasoned vet and almost like a "coach on the floor." Definitely a good player to have around young bench guys.

Then just stagger Cade and Ivey a bit to ensure Bojan doesn't have defenses collapsing on him as the only guy off the bench who's a real outside scoring threat. And that gives both Cade and Ivey more time to be "the man" if needed.

Cade
Ivey
Bey
Stew
Noel/Duren

Cojo/Hayes (yuck)
Burks?/Diallo
Bojan
Livers
Bagley/Duren

That to me seems pretty balanced on paper.

[GreekAlex]

I really like the idea of Bojan being the super sixth man.

1. The bench needs the scoring and if you get Bojan the ball, he obviously can score. Off the bench he can be allowed almost free reign since he won't be competing with Cade, Ivey and Bey for touches 25+ minutes a game.
2. It gets him away from Bey which splits up the weakest defensive tandem.
3. It hopefully moves another big into the starting rotation which should (fingers crossed) further improve the defense/rebounding of the starters. Obviously my preference is Duren but if Stew remains as a starter and it's not going to be Duren at C, then it needs to be Noel.
4. He's a seasoned vet and almost like a "coach on the floor." Definitely a good player to have around young bench guys.

Then just stagger Cade and Ivey a bit to ensure Bojan doesn't have defenses collapsing on him as the only guy off the bench who's a real outside scoring threat. And that gives both Cade and Ivey more time to be "the man" if needed.

Cade
Ivey
Bey
Stew
Noel/Duren

Cojo/Hayes (yuck)
Burks?/Diallo
Bojan
Livers
Bagley/Duren

That to me seems pretty balanced on paper.

It sounds good in theory but I think Cade & Iveys penetration is leading to good looks for Bojan. I’m not sure he’d be as successful with the second group even if he got more touches.

I understand that many of his 3’s are off picks/screens and that seems to be working well with Stewart on the first team.

[whitehops]

Read on Twitter

so the second year of the extension is only guaranteed for $2 million. that's pretty much a team option, which should make his contract very attractive (on top of his ability, obviously).

us as fans obviously don't know what teams are willing to trade (nobody saw the bojan trade coming) but i think extending bojan gives us a ton of options next off season. if the "worst case" is we keep him for another season then personally i wouldn't be upset at all.

[Manocad]

I really like the idea of Bojan being the super sixth man.

1. The bench needs the scoring and if you get Bojan the ball, he obviously can score. Off the bench he can be allowed almost free reign since he won't be competing with Cade, Ivey and Bey for touches 25+ minutes a game.
2. It gets him away from Bey which splits up the weakest defensive tandem.
3. It hopefully moves another big into the starting rotation which should (fingers crossed) further improve the defense/rebounding of the starters. Obviously my preference is Duren but if Stew remains as a starter and it's not going to be Duren at C, then it needs to be Noel.
4. He's a seasoned vet and almost like a "coach on the floor." Definitely a good player to have around young bench guys.

Then just stagger Cade and Ivey a bit to ensure Bojan doesn't have defenses collapsing on him as the only guy off the bench who's a real outside scoring threat. And that gives both Cade and Ivey more time to be "the man" if needed.

Cade
Ivey
Bey
Stew
Noel/Duren

Cojo/Hayes (yuck)
Burks?/Diallo
Bojan
Livers
Bagley/Duren

That to me seems pretty balanced on paper.

It sounds good in theory but I think Cade & Iveys penetration is leading to good looks for Bojan. I’m not sure he’d be as successful with the second group even if he got more touches.

I understand that many of his 3’s are off picks/screens and that seems to be working well with Stewart on the first team.

I certainly won't argue that. As I've posted before, I'd be fine with Bey going to the bench instead.

I agree that Cade and Ivey provide opportunities for both Bey and Bojan. But the reality is that Bey and Bojan together are such a defensive negative that more often than not, the starters become a negative unit. And that obviously won't win games. Now, on paper it may look attractive to split Cade and Ivey as well to pair one with Bey and one with Bojan, but that's not going to happen.

[Invictus88]

I don't mind it, but I am surprised. I had him as pretty likely to be traded by the deadline. *shrug*

I don't think this precludes that line of thinking. It actually leaves us with the maximum options going forward.

Since the contract is reasonable if anything it would give the Pistons more leverage in trade negotiations. Our response to low offers saying that we can just keep him is way more credible with 2 contract years left over.

The contract also makes trade negotiations a bit easier since the other team no longer has to first secure a new contract with him during that process.

[Invictus88]

I really like the idea of Bojan being the super sixth man.

1. The bench needs the scoring and if you get Bojan the ball, he obviously can score. Off the bench he can be allowed almost free reign since he won't be competing with Cade, Ivey and Bey for touches 25+ minutes a game.
2. It gets him away from Bey which splits up the weakest defensive tandem.
3. It hopefully moves another big into the starting rotation which should (fingers crossed) further improve the defense/rebounding of the starters. Obviously my preference is Duren but if Stew remains as a starter and it's not going to be Duren at C, then it needs to be Noel.
4. He's a seasoned vet and almost like a "coach on the floor." Definitely a good player to have around young bench guys.

Then just stagger Cade and Ivey a bit to ensure Bojan doesn't have defenses collapsing on him as the only guy off the bench who's a real outside scoring threat. And that gives both Cade and Ivey more time to be "the man" if needed.

Cade
Ivey
Bey
Stew
Noel/Duren

Cojo/Hayes (yuck)
Burks?/Diallo
Bojan
Livers
Bagley/Duren

That to me seems pretty balanced on paper.

It sounds good in theory but I think Cade & Iveys penetration is leading to good looks for Bojan. I’m not sure he’d be as successful with the second group even if he got more touches.

I understand that many of his 3’s are off picks/screens and that seems to be working well with Stewart on the first team.

I think the eventual outcome (or most desired for me at least) would be about 50% overlap of Cade and Ivey's minutes; with both carrying a healthy starter's workload.

- It would guarantee that a legit scoring threat and distrbutor is on the floor for both Bey and Bojan to play off of. Both of those guys work best as spot up shooters.

- It allows for splitting up of the bad defenders when needed; adjusting accordingly for matchips.

- It breathes life into a comatose second unit

[flow]

I'm also good with this deal.

Were going to have one more lotto pick and then its time to win some games. Having a dead eye shooter like BB is good to let our talent develop.

That sure was a quick about-face.

[NYPiston]

With Bojan extended at $19+ million per year, next year's 10 man rotation is pretty full I'm not sure what we'll do with our $30+ million of cap space.

Starting 5
Stewart (4th year)
Bojan (34 years old, perhaps he moves to the bench unit)
Bey (4th year)
Cade (3rd year)
Ivey (2nd year)
Bench
6th:Duren
7th:Livers
8th:2023 Lottery Pick
9th: Bagley
-------
10th: Hayes (Under contract but still in rotation?)
11th: Burks (Team Option)
12th: Diallo (Free Agent)
13th: Noel (Team Option)

Plus we still have $30+ million in cap space to spend on another starter quality guy if we want to.

I see 9 that will almost certainly be on the team. Hayes is very much in doubt if he doesn't show some real improvements this season.

If they have designs on taking a bigger jump next season which should be the case, they're going to need another starter preferably at wing and they definitely have room for one so I don't think the roster is full as it looks now.

It also depends on who they draft. If it's a player in the 7-10 range then he'll likely play a lesser role on a roster that should be harder to crack and they'll probably go bigger fish hunting but if it's a top 3-5 pick who looks to be a significant contributor right away then that may change the course for Weaver like this offseason when he got Duren and exited the Ayton sweepstakes.

In any event, their flexibility is still intact even with the Bojan extension so Weaver will have options.

[Manocad]

I really like the idea of Bojan being the super sixth man.

1. The bench needs the scoring and if you get Bojan the ball, he obviously can score. Off the bench he can be allowed almost free reign since he won't be competing with Cade, Ivey and Bey for touches 25+ minutes a game.
2. It gets him away from Bey which splits up the weakest defensive tandem.
3. It hopefully moves another big into the starting rotation which should (fingers crossed) further improve the defense/rebounding of the starters. Obviously my preference is Duren but if Stew remains as a starter and it's not going to be Duren at C, then it needs to be Noel.
4. He's a seasoned vet and almost like a "coach on the floor." Definitely a good player to have around young bench guys.

Then just stagger Cade and Ivey a bit to ensure Bojan doesn't have defenses collapsing on him as the only guy off the bench who's a real outside scoring threat. And that gives both Cade and Ivey more time to be "the man" if needed.

Cade
Ivey
Bey
Stew
Noel/Duren

Cojo/Hayes (yuck)
Burks?/Diallo
Bojan
Livers
Bagley/Duren

That to me seems pretty balanced on paper.

It sounds good in theory but I think Cade & Iveys penetration is leading to good looks for Bojan. I’m not sure he’d be as successful with the second group even if he got more touches.

I understand that many of his 3’s are off picks/screens and that seems to be working well with Stewart on the first team.

I think the eventual outcome (or most desired for me at least) would be about 50% overlap of Cade and Ivey's minutes; with both carrying a healthy starter's workload.

- It would guarantee that a legit scoring threat and distrbutor is on the floor for both Bey and Bojan to play off of. Both of those guys work best as spot up shooters.

- It allows for splitting up of the bad defenders when needed; adjusting accordingly for matchips.

- It breathes life into a comatose second unit

I actually had that same notion all typed out as reason #5 but deleted it since it wasn't really directly related to how Bojan being on the bench improves the team. What I had was Ivey going out at the 5-6 minute mark of the first quarter while Cade plays the majority of the quarter, then Ivey plays the majority of the second quarter while Cade comes in at the 5-6 minute mark (or something similar), and repeat in the second half. Both log starter minutes but with only half their time playing together.

[bstein14]

Once everyone is healthy, if you move Bojan to the bench its likely going to be to backup both forward spots. I can't see us paying him $20 million per seasons to be a 22 MPG backup. He'd still need closer to 30 MPG.

C: Duren / Bagley
F: Stew / Bojan
F: Bey / Bojan
G: Ivey / Livers
G: Cade / Burks

That drops us down to a 9 man rotation and cuts out Noel, Diallo, Knox, Hayes, and CoJo.

[Invictus88]

Once everyone is healthy, if you move Bojan to the bench its likely going to be to backup both forward spots. I can't see us paying him $20 million per seasons to be a 22 MPG backup. He'd still need closer to 40 MPG.

C: Duren / Bagley
F: Stew / Bojan
F: Bey / Bojan
G: Ivey / Livers
G: Cade / Burks

That drops us down to a 9 man rotation and cuts out Noel, Diallo, Knox, Hayes, and CoJo.

So first off nobody in the nba averages 40mpg. Cade only gets 34.7 currently while Bojan is at 31.7. I think that his minutes are perfectly fine there.

G: Cade / Ivey (50% of Ivey's minutes at PG with Cade off the floor)
G: Ivey / Burks / Livers (Other 50% of Ivey's minutes)
F: Bojan / Bey / Livers
F: Stew / Bey / Livers
C: Duren / Bagley / Stew

Bey backs up both forward spots. Given our propensity to foul there will be plenty of time to spread out at the 4 and 5.
Livers is our utility guy to fill in minutes as needed.

Things become much clearer if and when one of our 6'7 wings that can't play at SG gets traded (which should be Bojan based on his age and where we are at in the rebuild).

[zeebneeb]

I wish Bojan was 10 years younger, but seeing as how that's not a thing, who would fit next to Cade/Ivey at the 3?

Defense, and then shooting is a priority here.

If Bey could get himself to play like Bojan, he could be fine as he would put maximum pressure on the defense, but he only does that every 6 games it seems.

Draft, or Trade. Gotta be 24 and under though.

[flow]

As to the notion that the contract makes Bojan easier to deal-

Perhaps. But it also negates us getting him back, which is what those who wanted to trade him at the deadline had in mind. Trade him for a pick, then sign him as a free agent.

Now if you trade him, he's gone. You're only getting a pick back. And again, this isn't two or three years ago. We aren't embarking on a rebuild. There will be pressure to start winning next season. He's not being traded unless it's part of some player acquisition.

[Manocad]

As to the notion that the contract makes Bojan easier to deal-

Perhaps. But it also negates us getting him back, which is what those who wanted to trade him at the deadline had in mind. Trade him for a pick, then sign him as a free agent.

Now if you trade him, he's gone. You're only getting a pick back. And again, this isn't two or three years ago. We aren't embarking on a rebuild. There will be pressure to start winning next season. He's not being traded unless it's part of some player acquisition.

Pressure or not, I think next year is the time to start winning no matter what. Bey and Stew will be up for new contracts and even if there's money to sign them, one or both may be willing to head somewhere else. If even one of them goes I'd certainly want to keep Bojan next year to support making a move toward the playoffs. If the idea is to attract another big name player while the money to get one is there, even if it's in a trade you'd want the guy to want to be here because the team is showing that they're pushing for the playoffs and not still a year or two away. At some point you've got to stop cutting bait, as I like to say.

[buzzkilloton]

I'm also good with this deal.

Were going to have one more lotto pick and then its time to win some games. Having a dead eye shooter like BB is good to let our talent develop.

That sure was a quick about-face.

Not sure what you mean I changed my mind about. I wanted to trade him at the deadline but I dont see this as hindering that. Even if we keep him one more season I dont see it as a huge problem either. I think the contract is fair value and despite him not being a needle mover his shooting helps our guys develop.