Pistons New G-League Team

coordinator0 · Post #1 » by **coordinator0** » Wed Jul 29, 2020 3:13 pm

The owners of the Drive didn't want to relocate the team, so here we are. Will be even more convenient to have the G-League franchise in the same city.

Kilo · Post #2 » by **Kilo** » Wed Jul 29, 2020 4:07 pm

Interesting business decision by GR Drive ownership. Teams will want to have close affiliates so what other NBA teams will consider Grand Rapids? Chicago, Milwaukee and Cleveland?

I assume the new franchise will go by Motor City or Motown rather than Detroit. Motor City Muscle or Motown Sounders or something.

JNewton · Post #3 » by **JNewton** » Wed Jul 29, 2020 4:30 pm

I hope Ben Wallace doesn't take it as a slap in the face. Sheed has made some passive aggressive comments re: Gores and the current management group.

Kilo wrote:I assume the new franchise will go by Motor City or Motown rather than Detroit. Motor City Muscle or Motown Sounders or something.

Hopefully the Pistons can use this to drop the ridiculous Motor City branding from their jerseys. Those things have been bad from the start and get worse every year.

BJK1 · Post #4 » by **BJK1** » Wed Jul 29, 2020 4:47 pm

Smart decision by the Pistons. They’re now open about their desire to rebuild and develop a young core of players, so this is them actually putting their money where their mouths are. They will likely be a lottery level team for the next few seasons, and this will allow them to move young players back and forth between the main roster and minor league roster for consistent work and development under the direct eyes of Pistons’ coaches and management.

WeekapaugGroove · Post #5 » by **WeekapaugGroove** » Wed Jul 29, 2020 5:05 pm

Kilo wrote:Interesting business decision by GR Drive ownership. Teams will want to have close affiliates so what other NBA teams will consider Grand Rapids? Chicago, Milwaukee and Cleveland?

I assume the new franchise will go by Motor City or Motown rather than Detroit. Motor City Muscle or Motown Sounders or something.

Suns fan came here because I was curious why that Fort Wayne team wasn't just moving. Still curious what the end goal of the fort Wayne ownership is, the only other franchises without a gleague team are Portland and Denver so doubt they would be interested in Fort Wayne. So if Fort Wayne going independent? If so what's the path to making money because my understanding is these franchises aren't exactly profitable.

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chrbal · Post #6 » by **chrbal** » Wed Jul 29, 2020 6:23 pm

What team in Fort Wayne?

flow · Post #7 » by **flow** » Wed Jul 29, 2020 6:49 pm

Again, I don't understand what's wrong with the Grand Rapids Drive. GR is a fine location for a Detroit minor league affiliate.

How many major league sports teams have a minor league affiliate playing in the same city? None, that I'm aware of. Never heard of such a thing. And I don't see the benefits. Not for the Pistons from a marketing/footprint standpoint, and not for the G-league team from an interest-generating standpoint. The fact that now you may not have fly a G-leaguer to/from Detroit on a call-up doesn't outweigh the negatives. Especially considering the team could be on the road when a call-up occurs anyway. Minor league affiliates belong in cities that don't have a major league team.

WeekapaugGroove · Post #8 » by **WeekapaugGroove** » Wed Jul 29, 2020 6:55 pm

chrbal wrote:What team in Fort Wayne?

My bad I meant grand rapids

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chrbal · Post #9 » by **chrbal** » Wed Jul 29, 2020 7:56 pm

flow wrote:Again, I don't understand what's wrong with the Grand Rapids Drive. GR is a fine location for a Detroit minor league affiliate.

How many major league sports teams have a minor league affiliate playing in the same city? None, that I'm aware of. Never heard of such a thing. And I don't see the benefits. Not for the Pistons from a marketing/footprint standpoint, and not for the G-league team from an interest-generating standpoint. The fact that now you may not have fly a G-leaguer to/from Detroit on a call-up doesn't outweigh the negatives. Especially considering the team could be on the road when a call-up occurs anyway. Minor league affiliates belong in cities that don't have a major league team.

I think only one, the Thunder, until now. So I guess this is a weaver decision

Manocad · Post #10 » by **Manocad** » Wed Jul 29, 2020 8:10 pm

WeekapaugGroove wrote:
chrbal wrote:What team in Fort Wayne?
My bad I meant grand rapids

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I thought maybe you time traveled from 1957.

440BB · Post #11 » by **440BB** » Wed Jul 29, 2020 8:35 pm

chrbal wrote:
flow wrote:Again, I don't understand what's wrong with the Grand Rapids Drive. GR is a fine location for a Detroit minor league affiliate.

How many major league sports teams have a minor league affiliate playing in the same city? None, that I'm aware of. Never heard of such a thing. And I don't see the benefits. Not for the Pistons from a marketing/footprint standpoint, and not for the G-league team from an interest-generating standpoint. The fact that now you may not have fly a G-leaguer to/from Detroit on a call-up doesn't outweigh the negatives. Especially considering the team could be on the road when a call-up occurs anyway. Minor league affiliates belong in cities that don't have a major league team.

I think only one, the Thunder, until now. So I guess this is a weaver decision

The Pistons announced the plan to have their G league team in the new Wayne State arena in the spring of 2019 and the Grand Rapids Drive announced in May 2019 that they weren't interested in moving, so Weaver wasn't a factor. This purchase was one option versus the G league approving an expansion team but in any case a team was planned there for next year.

Kilo · Post #12 » by **Kilo** » Wed Jul 29, 2020 8:58 pm

Manocad wrote:
WeekapaugGroove wrote:
chrbal wrote:What team in Fort Wayne?
My bad I meant grand rapids

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I thought maybe you time traveled from 1957.

Or just 2015.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Wayne_Mad_Ants

Kilo · Post #13 » by **Kilo** » Wed Jul 29, 2020 9:04 pm

I like the idea of having the team in Detroit. As G-League transitions to a full on minor league system for the NBA with all players eventually under Piston contracts I think it makes developmental sense. It's often said that young player development stagnates during the season because NBA teams rarely scrimmage anymore. With Pistons G-League team in Detroit, they could have their youngsters travel to Wayne State Campus to scrimmage with the team there, or even easily go up and down to play there and not miss any time with the Pistons. Now admittedly Grand Rapids isn't far, but NBA is a winter sport and that drive isn't one you want to have to make in the Winter.

Also Pistons can use Detroit based G-League team to build up fanbase in Detroit with much cheaper tickets/experience at their games. And it being on a college campus there will be a lot of college kids looking for something cheap to do on game nights.

Manocad · Post #14 » by **Manocad** » Fri Jul 31, 2020 12:50 am

Kilo wrote:I like the idea of having the team in Detroit. As G-League transitions to a full on minor league system for the NBA with all players eventually under Piston contracts I think it makes developmental sense. It's often said that young player development stagnates during the season because NBA teams rarely scrimmage anymore. With Pistons G-League team in Detroit, they could have their youngsters travel to Wayne State Campus to scrimmage with the team there, or even easily go up and down to play there and not miss any time with the Pistons. Now admittedly Grand Rapids isn't far, but NBA is a winter sport and that drive isn't one you want to have to make in the Winter.

Also Pistons can use Detroit based G-League team to build up fanbase in Detroit with much cheaper tickets/experience at their games. And it being on a college campus there will be a lot of college kids looking for something cheap to do on game nights.

I would absolutely spend money on G-League games if it became a true "minor league," so to speak, like MLB, where all the draft picks other than those that seem to be can't miss NBA-ready prospects go automatically. Spend a lot less money to see the vast majority of young draft picks play? Hell yeah, I'd be all over that.

Billl · Post #15 » by **Billl** » Fri Jul 31, 2020 2:22 pm

I guess the theory is that you can send down guys for a few games and then easily call them back up? I guess that is OK for injury rehab or whatever, but it doesn't seem like a viable development strategy.

Our young guys should be in the rotation. If they aren't getting enough minutes in real game and you want to send them down for some development time, then just do that. You don't need to have a 2 hour turnaround on something like that since they aren't really in the rotation anyway. And you would want them down for a considerable number of games in that case.

Kilo · Post #16 » by **Kilo** » Fri Jul 31, 2020 11:08 pm

Casey said it worked very well with Siakam as Toronto's G-League affiliate is like a half hour from Toronto. OKC liked their similar set-up.