Props to Weaver for pushing the youth movement.

[bstein14]

Props to Weaver for pushing the youth movement.

Honestly, I wasn't so sure when Blake and Rose were both brought back to start the season with us, as well as signing Plumlee(30) and Ellington.... it really felt like we weren't fully committed to "the process" of a true rebuild.

But after trading Rose for a young guy on a rookie contract still with potential, committing to sit/trade/buyout Blake, and then also moving Ellington out of the rotation we've clearly gone all in on the tank and youth movement which is great to finally tear down and build back up.

I think its safe to say we will/should be the youngest roster in the league next year. I honestly hope Plumlee and Grant (maybe Wright) are our youngest players with mostly everyone else on rookie contracts.

Even with every win somewhat feeling bad for the tank, I think those wins feel better when its young guys leading the way... especially the rookies.

[whitehops]

yeah it's hard to say exactly what his long-term vision for the rebuild was but wright and plumlee are perfect veterans to play with the young guys. they play hard, play the "right way" and don't command too much of their own touches. grant is similar, as he doesn't initiate every play but can do that when the offense falters.

trading rose was a big first step because he was a bit of a black hole and blake was even worse - couldn't do anything with the ball and couldn't do anything without the ball but because he was the most "skilled" player on the team he commanded so many touches. honestly i would so much rather the pistons just keep him through the season and buy him out at some point next season if the alternative is taking on any negative assets or giving up any picks to trade him.

next season we have a lot of guys returning but the season after that we only have grant, plumlee on an unguaranteed deal and all the rookie contracts on the books. us not having any cap space this coming off season might be a blessing in disguise because it all but guarantees that we'll have a ton of cap space and only the youths + grant in the following off season.

[whitehops]

sorry to keep rambling on but one thing i LOVE about our vets is that none of them complain to the refs. in a league where it seems like players complain after every shot, guys like grant, wright, plumlee, jackson, etc. just keep their head down and keep playing. i really hope that rubs off on the young guys and they don't expect the refs to bail them out as they develop.

[440BB]

Weaver's focus on building a team culture with the right vets, getting rookies that fit that culture and a few hungry young vets sure is worth watching play out. For a first year GM he's gotten us to a pretty good place in less than half a season. A young aggressive bunch playing well together, mentored out of the gate by some pretty good vets. So far, so good and fun to watch.

[Pharaoh]

On Draft Day I was incredibly impressed with the direction we were heading...

The finalising of those transactions and free agency had me scratching my head a bit but I let it play out.

Looking at things now it does seem all the waiving and stretching was deliberate, that removing all but Svi & Sekou from last season's roster was deliberate and that signing or acquiring guys to 2 year deals was deliberate as well (JJ, Wright)

As I've stated numerous times:

Weaver was viewed around the league as this up and coming GM who learnt from arguably the best in the business.

He also was gifted 5 months to prepare for the Draft, 5 months to go over the roster with a fine tooth comb and 5 months to look around the league for his acquisition options.

I'm actually happy the narrative around him is changing, if only because the majority of us have wanted something just like this for a long long time.

Be careful what you wish for - you just might get it!

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[vege]

sorry to keep rambling on but one thing i LOVE about our vets is that none of them complain to the refs. in a league where it seems like players complain after every shot, guys like grant, wright, plumlee, jackson, etc. just keep their head down and keep playing. i really hope that rubs off on the young guys and they don't expect the refs to bail them out as they develop.

The thing I hated the most about Greg Monroe was his AND1 screams in every **** play.

[Drwho17]

Greg Monroe, man did his career take a dive after leaving Detroit, I see he just got cut by a Russian team.

[tradez401]

Greg Monroe, man did his career take a dive after leaving Detroit, I see he just got cut by a Russian team.

Other than KCP (not counting Dinwiddie/Middleton because they barely played here) has any other drafted piston from the 2010s had success on other teams?

[foolinc]

Greg Monroe, man did his career take a dive after leaving Detroit, I see he just got cut by a Russian team.

Other than KCP (not counting Dinwiddie/Middleton because they barely played here) has any other drafted piston from the 2010s had success on other teams?

Here's the list. It's not pretty

[Snakebites]

Greg Monroe, man did his career take a dive after leaving Detroit, I see he just got cut by a Russian team.

Other than KCP (not counting Dinwiddie/Middleton because they barely played here) has any other drafted piston from the 2010s had success on other teams?

Here's the list. It's not pretty

Yep.

As I say repeatedly, the biggest reason we are in a 12 year rut is our failure to add value through the draft.

As bad and loud as our trades and free agency have been, the draft is worse. You can survive some bad trades or signings if you draft well. Plus, our picks and signings often come when we fail to fill our holes via draft.

[NYPiston]

As bad and loud as our trades and free agency have been, the draft is worse. You can survive some bad trades or signings if you draft well. Plus, our picks and signings often come when we fail to fill our holes via draft.

Amazingly, the Pistons haven't been a good drafting team since the mid 80s. It's actually pretty shocking how poor their drafting has been overall. Granted, they haven't had many top 5 picks even in the lean years but the amount of 1st round misses is eye opening and even most of the hits were just decent role players.

In any event, Weaver has done a remarkable job of completely turning over the roster in very short order (literally) and you can see the culture he's trying to build here with hard working players who have length and defensive acumen. If you would have told me that Griffin and Rose would be out of the rotation by mid February, I would have said you're crazy. Granted, Griffin is still a Piston technically but Weaver has a clear plan and is executing it. Who knows if it will work but at least this team has a real direction for the first time since...???

[Snakebites]

As bad and loud as our trades and free agency have been, the draft is worse. You can survive some bad trades or signings if you draft well. Plus, our picks and signings often come when we fail to fill our holes via draft.

Amazingly, the Pistons haven't been a good drafting team since the mid 80s. It's actually pretty shocking how poor their drafting has been overall. Granted, they haven't had many top 5 picks even in the lean years but the amount of 1st round misses is eye opening and even most of the hits were just decent role players.

In any event, Weaver has done a remarkable job of completely turning over the roster in very short order (literally) and you can see the culture he's trying to build here with hard working players who have length and defensive acumen. If you would have told me that Griffin and Rose would be out of the rotation by mid February, I would have said you're crazy. Granted, Griffin is still a Piston technically but Weaver has a clear plan and is executing it. Who knows if it will work but at least this team has a real direction for the first time since...???

The early 90s were pretty decent actually- they drafted Grant Hill, Allan Houston, and Lindsey Hunter in back to back years, but yeah, in general you're right.

We built our championship team despite really only having one good draft pick in that time frame, but that was really the exception more than the rule. In general you MUST draft well to build a good team. Trades and free agency certainly have their roles to play, but if all of your draft picks become useless (even as assets) a couple of years into drafting them, then moving forward is nearly impossible.

[NYPiston]

The early 90s were pretty decent actually- they drafted Grant Hill, Allan Houston, and Lindsey Hunter in back to back years, but yeah, in general you're right.

We built our championship team despite really only having one good draft pick in that time frame, but that was really the exception more than the rule. In general you MUST draft well to build a good team. Trades and free agency certainly have their roles to play, but if all of your draft picks become useless (even as assets) a couple of years into drafting them, then moving forward is nearly impossible.

Agreed that drafting, and perhaps more importantly, development (Dinwiddie and Middleton failed development for example) are paramount to success especially for a market like Detroit.
The big markets can sign the big ticket players and build a contender overnight but for the Pistons and markets like Milwaukee, San Antonio etc., drafting is hugely important.

It was THE biggest failure of the SVG era. Johnson, Ellenson, Kennard. Look no further than those draft years as the big culprit.

[Manocad]

Where’s the “Weaver should be fired immediately” crowd now? Chowing down on a healthy heaping of crow, I imagine

[440BB]

Where’s the “Weaver should be fired immediately” crowd now? Chowing down on a healthy heaping of crow, I imagine

Shopping for 3D chess games on Amazon?

[chrbal]

Where’s the “Weaver should be fired immediately” crowd now? Chowing down on a healthy heaping of crow, I imagine

Waiting for Hayes to get healthy enough to play, but not reacclimated enough to be successful.

Same people that want to take a risk in the draft, only to harp on how good haliburton ( the more known commodity/safer pick) has been so far.

[Pharaoh]

Where's the dude that put my name in his sig?

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[DetroitSho]

Where's the dude that put my name in his sig?

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Who sig'd you? And for what?

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[Pharaoh]

Only ever saw it once cause I have sigs turned off but clicked a link that led to a thread where dude has my name in his sig

Been on this site off and on forever so guess this clown is trying to better his own rep using my name.

Of course it was one of the doom and gloom crowd that suddenly has so little to say now Plumlee, Grant, Stewart, Bey, Lee etc are panning out and Blake & Rose are gone!

But but but:

we're chasing the 8th seed
Weaver is a moron!
we're doomed forever

All quiet now though

Where's the dude that put my name in his sig?

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Who sig'd you? And for what?

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[Pharaoh]

Found it:

ByeByeDre has me in his sig

"Every good poster has a troll. Mine is Pharaoh"

1 - claiming he's a good poster
2 - calling me a troll

Yeah man after 19 years posting on here off and on I'm the troll!

Old heads here will tell you kid is lucky I've mellowed in my old age cause back in the day the righteous man would have reigned down upon him...

Got no need to anymore cause they show their true colours in time.

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