This is surreal.

[zeebneeb]

I dont want to get ahead of myself, or post a billion stats showing just how huge of a turnaround this really is for the Pistons, but man, I've been around for awhile now. I've seen every Pistons championship (anyone else remember the "three-peat beat" diddy in 91'?)and all of their ups and downs over the years.

The closest thing to what this team is doing right now, is during the 2000-01-2001-02 leap, but it pales in comparison. That was a ragtag band of cast-offs, that traded for a star in Rasheed, and then all became a force.

This is a homegrown cast of lottery picks, with a few vets sprinkled in, refusing to lose, no matter the ridiculous odds. Someone in the game thread asked(maybe Cow?) If any team has ever won like this over the past two games. Top 6 guys out, doesn't matter.

Even though I've seen every title, it doesn't mean I didn't suffer with all of you, since that disastrous Billups trade, that doomed the team for damn near two decades. The lowest being the time under basketball terrorist, Monty "I just keep collecting paychecks" Williams. I saw a post of the Pistons starting lineup from just a few years ago on reddit, and I still can't believe the turnaround.

Derrick Walton
Frank Jackson
Hamidou Diallo
Saddiq Bey
Luka Garza

Holy HELL.

So this is just a thread, to say;

Is this real life?

[MotownMadness]

And everyone is so young

Pistons are gonna run the east for a while

[JRK]

Calmate!, its only November. Real basketball in NBA didnt even start.

[chrbal]

Derrick Walton
Frank Jackson
Hamidou Diallo
Saddiq Bey
Luka Garza

Holy HELL.

So this is just a thread, to say;

Is this real life?

Look up the lineups for the 3 games (36 minutes per game) that Walton started. That’s something.

I remember light discussions about how it might be worth keeping Eugene Omoruyi and RJ Hampton

[Invictus88]

I'm going to thoroughly enjoy the high we are on and try not to panic too much if a few bumps happen ahead. We've greatly exceeded expectations and have had a bit of fortune from opposing lineups as well.

Guarded optimism with a bright future.

[Patrick27]

It's the Oklahoma City Thunder model where you tank for years, get high draft picks, and build from within. I know a lot of you don't want to hear it, but it's exactly what Weaver was brought in from OKC to do, and he did it.

[VicVinegar]

I think the last three belt recipients were Daniss Jenkins, Paul Reed, and Javonte Green. LOL. I love it.

Daniss deserves a contract. He's kind of poop in the paint, getting blocked and forcing bad shots, but everything else about him I love. He's shooting 55% from the three, is making big time plays, and has great vision with the ball. He's averaging 10 assists a game in two starts and he should easily have more. He's creating space for teammates to get open and passing them the ball, they just aren't making wide open shots. Also him s**t talking NBA All-Star Tyrese Maxey in his 15th career NBA game fits the Pistons' persona perfectly.

It's going to be interesting seeing how minutes shape up once guys are healthy. I'm still a big fan of Ron, but if he doesn't figure it out, it's an easy decision to give his minutes elsewhere, considering how deep we are. Just like it was an easy decision to limit him in the playoffs.

[VicVinegar]

It's the Oklahoma City Thunder model where you tank for years, get high draft picks, and build from within. I know a lot of you don't want to hear it, but it's exactly what Weaver was brought in from OKC to do, and he did it.

Yes and no? Weaver 100% deserves some credit. But the team was still bad with young talent and top picks - until Trajan and JB came in and changed the culture. That was the biggest difference. I mean the Weaver team lost 28 straight games with Cade, Duren, and other starters. Now we're winning games with absolute nobodies that have nothing to do with the Pistons' high draft picks. The way I look at it, Weaver gave us a bunch of LEGO pieces and said "Good luck! I know you can somehow build a champion with all of this, but don't ask me how!". And then Trajan and JB came in with instructions.

[bstein14]

It's the Oklahoma City Thunder model where you tank for years, get high draft picks, and build from within. I know a lot of you don't want to hear it, but it's exactly what Weaver was brought in from OKC to do, and he did it.

Yes and no? Weaver 100% deserves some credit. But the team was still bad with young talent and top picks - until Trajan and JB came in and changed the culture. That was the biggest difference. I mean the Weaver team lost 28 straight games with Cade, Duren, and other starters. Now we're winning games with absolute nobodies that have nothing to do with the Pistons' high draft picks. The way I look at it, Weaver gave us a bunch of LEGO pieces and said "Good luck! I know you can somehow build a champion with all of this, but don't ask me how!". And then Trajan and JB came in with instructions.

It'd be interesting to see how things would have played out if JB had gotten fired a year earlier, and when Monty Wililams turned us down if Weaver shifted to JB instead. You'd have to imagine JB would have gotten them winning and also Weaver would still be here.

[Kalamazoo317]

So thank God that didn't happen. Having the wrong coach in Monty (which wasn't even his fault) wasn't the issue with Weaver. There are about a dozen threads or more on this board litigating all of that, though, so no reason to get into it again here.

[chrbal]

It's the Oklahoma City Thunder model where you tank for years, get high draft picks, and build from within. I know a lot of you don't want to hear it, but it's exactly what Weaver was brought in from OKC to do, and he did it.

Yes and no? Weaver 100% deserves some credit. But the team was still bad with young talent and top picks - until Trajan and JB came in and changed the culture. That was the biggest difference. I mean the Weaver team lost 28 straight games with Cade, Duren, and other starters. Now we're winning games with absolute nobodies that have nothing to do with the Pistons' high draft picks. The way I look at it, Weaver gave us a bunch of LEGO pieces and said "Good luck! I know you can somehow build a champion with all of this, but don't ask me how!". And then Trajan and JB came in with instructions.

It'd be interesting to see how things would have played out if JB had gotten fired a year earlier, and when Monty Wililams turned us down if Weaver shifted to JB instead. You'd have to imagine JB would have gotten them winning and also Weaver would still be here.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/executives/weavetr99x.html

I mean if you want another season of idle garbage, I guess it could be interesting. He was decent at the draft, but struggled at best at every other aspect of the job.

Dwayne Casey was from the previous regime, so Williams was his only coaching hire. Free agency was mostly fill in moves, lots that didn’t pan out. Trades were among his biggest weaknesses, and that’s saying something.

[bstein14]

Yes and no? Weaver 100% deserves some credit. But the team was still bad with young talent and top picks - until Trajan and JB came in and changed the culture. That was the biggest difference. I mean the Weaver team lost 28 straight games with Cade, Duren, and other starters. Now we're winning games with absolute nobodies that have nothing to do with the Pistons' high draft picks. The way I look at it, Weaver gave us a bunch of LEGO pieces and said "Good luck! I know you can somehow build a champion with all of this, but don't ask me how!". And then Trajan and JB came in with instructions.

It'd be interesting to see how things would have played out if JB had gotten fired a year earlier, and when Monty Wililams turned us down if Weaver shifted to JB instead. You'd have to imagine JB would have gotten them winning and also Weaver would still be here.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/executives/weavetr99x.html

I mean if you want another season of idle garbage, I guess it could be interesting. He was decent at the draft, but struggled at best at every other aspect of the job.

Dwayne Casey was from the previous regime, so Williams was his only coaching hire. Free agency was mostly fill in moves, lots that didn’t pan out. Trades were among his biggest weaknesses, and that’s saying something.

What's interesting to me is, the Pistons have been around for nearly 90 years and while Chuck Daily has coached the most games, the 2nd most is Casey and the third most was by SVG. That just goes to show you how quickly we've burned through coaches no one had made it more than 4 years even when we've been good/decent.

[flow]

It's coaching.

.

[Uncle Mxy]

What's interesting to me is, the Pistons have been around for nearly 90 years and while Chuck Daily has coached the most games, the 2nd most is Casey and the third most was by SVG. That just goes to show you how quickly we've burned through coaches no one had made it more than 4 years even when we've been good/decent.

Casey was our second longest coach? Damn! If someone had asked me off the top of my head, I'd have said Flip Saunders.
That's statistic is as surreal as anything.

We didn't burn through Larry Brown. He burned us with his wandering. Otherwise, he'd have been around as long as Dumars.
And it's probably heresy, but I don't think he was any better of a coach than Carlisle -- it was Sheed that put us over the top.

[Fennis Dembo]

Yes and no? Weaver 100% deserves some credit. But the team was still bad with young talent and top picks - until Trajan and JB came in and changed the culture. That was the biggest difference. I mean the Weaver team lost 28 straight games with Cade, Duren, and other starters. Now we're winning games with absolute nobodies that have nothing to do with the Pistons' high draft picks. The way I look at it, Weaver gave us a bunch of LEGO pieces and said "Good luck! I know you can somehow build a champion with all of this, but don't ask me how!". And then Trajan and JB came in with instructions.

It'd be interesting to see how things would have played out if JB had gotten fired a year earlier, and when Monty Wililams turned us down if Weaver shifted to JB instead. You'd have to imagine JB would have gotten them winning and also Weaver would still be here.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/executives/weavetr99x.html

I mean if you want another season of idle garbage, I guess it could be interesting. He was decent at the draft, but struggled at best at every other aspect of the job.

Dwayne Casey was from the previous regime, so Williams was his only coaching hire. Free agency was mostly fill in moves, lots that didn’t pan out. Trades were among his biggest weaknesses, and that’s saying something.

Bagley, Noel, and Wiseman were all on the team. And Joe Harris.

[Spider156]

I think this is Cade and coaching to be honest, yes we are more talented but not that talented in my opinion. I still don't think Ausar is all that offensively he is still limited. Ivey can dump our defense down and fans are gonna be razor sharp focused on him once he comes back. I think Duren definitely got better and he will command 30m+ a year and we might lose out on more talent than expected. I think Tobias is a big reason why we are winning and we will miss him very soon as he is our only true PF on the roster. No I don't think Stewart Duren can work out, I do think Paul Reed is better than a third string center. I also think Jenkins is not a better player but has a better role off the bench PG for us than Sasser does being score first. I think it's mostly been Cade playing All NBA basketball. I still think we need a second or third All star if Duren is the guy to break out. I also think we need to keep our draft picks and upgrade a position. I think we need to play 10 more games to see some more of our players and most importantly try to stay healthy. The losses will start piling up soon if we don't get our players back on the court.

[SuperBad]

If we keep winning another ten days, Ivey will be somewhat forced to except the 6th man role, which is best anyways, Daniss, Lavert, and Ivey being able to come in off the bench will give us a bunch of options when Cade is off the floor. I’d try to trade Sasser for Kyle Anderson, he gives us more depth, lineups, and more switch ability. I don’t think we need Sasser anymore. We could give Ivey a chance to destroy bench lineups with Lavert, perfect role, kinda like Stewart at least for the rest of the season.

[oldncreaky]

I think this is Cade and coaching to be honest, yes we are more talented but not that talented in my opinion. I still don't think Ausar is all that offensively he is still limited. Ivey can dump our defense down and fans are gonna be razor sharp focused on him once he comes back. I think Duren definitely got better and he will command 30m+ a year and we might lose out on more talent than expected. I think Tobias is a big reason why we are winning and we will miss him very soon as he is our only true PF on the roster. No I don't think Stewart Duren can work out, I do think Paul Reed is better than a third string center. I also think Jenkins is not a better player but has a better role off the bench PG for us than Sasser does being score first. I think it's mostly been Cade playing All NBA basketball. I still think we need a second or third All star if Duren is the guy to break out. I also think we need to keep our draft picks and upgrade a position. I think we need to play 10 more games to see some more of our players and most importantly try to stay healthy. The losses will start piling up soon if we don't get our players back on the court.

In July 2024, I was a little worried that giving Cade a full max could come back to haunt the Pistons. I was so wrong, and I'm so glad.

Just have to avoid overpaying for non-stars . . .

[bstein14]

Cade signs a 6 year extension deal with Nike and will become the 6th current NBA player to get a signature shoe deal.

LeBron, Durant, Giannis, Ja Morant and Devin Booker.... and now Cade Cunningham who's signature shoe should release about a year from now.

[zeebneeb]

Cade signs a 6 year extension deal with Nike and will become the 6th current NBA player to get a signature shoe deal.

LeBron, Durant, Giannis, Ja Morant and Devin Booker.... and now Cade Cunningham who's signature shoe should release about a year from now.

Add it to the list of surreal.

Pistons now have, 100%, without question, one of "those guys", on the team.