Bill Simmons Trade Idea: Zion for Bey, Hayes, First

[Kalamazoo317]

Not my idea, but just heard a Bill Simmons podcast where he was suggesting the best fit for Zion going forward was the Pistons and the trade that made sense was our first this year, Bey, and Hayes.

Honestly, it's intriguing, but unless I 100% knew Zion was healthy and committed to playing winning basketball in Detroit, I don't think it's worth the risk. And even then, I'd be iffy, considering you might have a shot at close to as good of a prospect at the top of this draft that you could keep under team control longer.

What do y'all think, though? Zion for Cade was a thread topic earlier this year that was a slam dunk no, but pairing Zion *with* Cade has at least a little appeal, even if it means giving up some other pretty nice assets.

Secondary question: if we *did* make a move like that, what would be the best way to round out the roster? Do we still trade Grant? Do we still resign Bagley? Do we still chase Brunson?

[Manocad]

Nope. I see Zion as being an albatross moving forward. Absolutely a top tier talent when healthy meaning he's going to get paid and paid a LOT, with no guarantee that he'll stay healthy. Given where the team is at right now with an up and coming Cade, one blown Zion knee and this team's future gets tanked.

[Invictus88]

Not surprising... National columnist chooses the Pistons to be the dumping ground for a potentially broken/unfit/unreliable Zion going forward; trading away a lot of their future in the process. Just another instance of non-Detroit guys not spending even a second considering whether this actually makes sense for the Pistons to do.

We've had a bird's eye view of what Zion's future looks like in the form of the walking corpse that was Blake Griffin a few years back. No thank you.

Fact:
Out of 236 games spanning 3 seasons Zion has played in a total of 85. That's 36%. That's not his 3pt percentage. That's his attendance folks.

[Snakebites]

No way. Zion will drag his heels in Detroit just like he is in NO.

[vege]

If our pick is not a top 3-4 I would think about it, but probably would rather take my chances on the rookie and Bey, but it's an intriguing idea.

[Invictus88]

If our pick is not a top 3-4 I would think about it, but probably would rather take my chances on the rookie and Bey, but it's an intriguing idea.

It's not even a matter of pick positioning. It's a matter of having to pay Supermax dollars for a guy that currently plays for your team for roughly a third of the games. His body type isn't going to be changing and he's already shown obvious problems with weight management, etc.

His contract alone is almost guaranteed to become negative value. NOP should be doing anything they can to offload this guy to someone who believes in the promise he's shown in his limited action and completely overlooks the obvious signs that it isn't sustainable. We should avoid being that team at all costs.

[buzzkilloton]

I'm not giving up our lotto pick for the rights to max a big man whos going to have consistent injury problems. Hes also had weight problems in the past.

This move could be another Blake Griffin trade except we have to give up more loot in the deal. Potentially ruining the Cade pick because we maxed out a oft injured big. Imagine years down the road Cades busting his azz and were not winning playoff series meanwhile Zions not even dressed and has blown up to 300 pounds due to his weight problems.

I get their is upside because its Zion. Their is also upside in the draft pick and with Bey. That upside wont have the cost that Zion will.

[440BB]

I can't see giving up much, let alone that haul, for a player I doubt plays in more than half the games over the next few seasons. He should go to the Nets for Simmons or the Lakers for Westbrook. Those are both nice cities to order all varieties of carryout while sitting at home.

[Laimbeer]

The pick is the only thing of real value. You have to consider this, particularly if our pick slides. Cade/Zion could be speacial indeed.

But as I've said, his wanting to be here is as big a question as his health.

[MrBigShot]

Worst case scenario: You drop $200 million on a player who doesn't even stay on the floor and effectively destroy any chances of being competitive for 4-5 years.

If a 1st is involved I'm not in favor of this deal.

[tmorgan]

Easy pass. Zion wants to be in NY or LA. Even if he loved Detroit, that’s a heavy price in terms of team flexibility.

[Snakebites]

IMO the core of the issue here isn’t theoretical value- his theoretical value is immense.

It’s that I simply don’t view him as a firm asset. He won’t want to be here and will continue to fail to reach health/fitness milestones if moved here.

[Invictus88]

Worst case scenario: You drop $200 million on a player who doesn't even stay on the floor and effectively destroy any chances of being competitive for 4-5 years.

If a 1st is involved I'm not in favor of this deal.

It's even worse than this.

You eat up a nice-sized chunk of Cade's career while doing it.

[theBigLip]

Not surprising... National columnist chooses the Pistons to be the dumping ground for a potentially broken/unfit/unreliable Zion going forward; trading away a lot of their future in the process. Just another instance of non-Detroit guys not spending even a second considering whether this actually makes sense for the Pistons to do.

I listened to the Podcast. Simmons does his research. He was looking at possible fits, cap space, etc. He said he went through everyone and the Pistons made the most sense. But he clearly knows the risk, so I don't think one can say he didn't spend even a second considering the impact (which I agree with you, other journalists, and certainly GM trade posters do all the time).

That being said, a 100% healthy Zion would make this trade awesome for the Pistons. But no way can we get that guarantee for his health, and the risks are catastrophic - this would be playing all your cards on the rebuild, and it if doesn't work, puts the Pistons back 5-10 years - 5 to get through Zions contract and another 5 to rebuild again. So I'm totally against the trade unless they would do something like Grant, Bey and Hayes and we keep our draft pick. And even if that were to happen, what kind of contract do you give Zion, who would be expecting the Max. Are there opt outs? How many years?

Interesting proposal, and the fact that it is even being discussed shows the huge decision the Pelicans are going to have. It's certainly plausible they trade Zion and push that risk to somewhere else.

[theBigLip]

His contract alone is almost guaranteed to become negative value. NOP should be doing anything they can to offload this guy to someone who believes in the promise he's shown in his limited action and completely overlooks the obvious signs that it isn't sustainable. We should avoid being that team at all costs.

This I agree on 100%.

[Invictus88]

Not surprising... National columnist chooses the Pistons to be the dumping ground for a potentially broken/unfit/unreliable Zion going forward; trading away a lot of their future in the process. Just another instance of non-Detroit guys not spending even a second considering whether this actually makes sense for the Pistons to do.

I listened to the Podcast. Simmons does his research. He was looking at possible fits, cap space, etc. He said he went through everyone and the Pistons made the most sense. But he clearly knows the risk, so I don't think one can say he didn't spend even a second considering the impact (which I agree with you, other journalists, and certainly GM trade posters do all the time).

That being said, a 100% healthy Zion would make this trade awesome for the Pistons. But no way can we get that guarantee for his health, and the risks are catastrophic - this would be playing all your cards on the rebuild, and it if doesn't work, puts the Pistons back 5-10 years - 5 to get through Zions contract and another 5 to rebuild again. So I'm totally against the trade unless they would do something like Grant, Bey and Hayes and we keep our draft pick. And even if that were to happen, what kind of contract do you give Zion, who would be expecting the Max. Are there opt outs? How many years?

Interesting proposal, and the fact that it is even being discussed shows the huge decision the Pelicans are going to have. It's certainly plausible they trade Zion and push that risk to somewhere else.

Thanks for the even-handed response.

My only disagreement with this is that what he proposes the Pistons give up for him doesn't make sense from the Pistons perspective (it doesn't really make sense for any team to give that stuff up to be honest). It's from that viewpoint that I made the claim that he hadn't spent enough time thinking about the trade from both sides.

Other columnists (maybe not Simmons normally like you suggest?) do this all the time and leave me scratching my head every so often in response when someone brings up the trade ideas in our forum.

Zion's injury and condition history is so bad right now that it would take literally years of sustained durability to counter what we have seen so far. Until that happens suggesting anyone give back positive value in exchange for his undoubtedly massive contract in return is just not realistic.

You'd have to get really creative with the contract terms. Even then there's a high probability you end up with absolutely nothing in return / damage your franchise too much before cutting bait when you deem the experiment is over. No thanks please.

[Laimbeer]

Ops, I read Stewart instead of Bey. Wishful thinking.

[Kalamazoo317]

Yeah, seems like the consensus is we all pretty much aren't into paying top dollar for him at this point, so he's not an asset worth acquiring. I think it helps that in 2022 the more homegrown +maybe one mid-level or value trade teams are outpacing the big swing super teams by a bit.

If we did end up trading for Zion (which I'm against, especially at that price), what exactly would be the window before we had to pay him? Would there be a potential to flip him for other assets if the fit didn't work?

Ops, I read Stewart instead of Bey. Wishful thinking.

It'd be a better fit on offense if we got to keep Bey, for sure.

[zeebneeb]

Wait, the pick and two players? Get bent sideways on that "deal".

How is that a good deal for the Pistons?

[Betarayjigs]

This feels a little like alot of the NFL Draft talk that goes around the Lions. "Talking head wants some result, Needs a team to dump the bad /questionable decision on so that their trade/order of draft picks works. Sees Detroit and stops there.