Finding some sense in the Reggie Bullock trade

The Detroit Pistons’ most consistent wing is on his way to Los Angeles. Though the returns aren’t what many expected, some sense can be found in the move.

I woke up around 1:30 a.m. to the sound of my phone making so much noise it could have passed for a security alarm. Fitting, really, because the next thing I saw was this:

Like a thief in the night, the Lakers snuck into Little Caesar’s Arena, snatched up Reggie Bullock, threw him in a suit case and felt bad enough about it they left a few random trinkets on the floor. At least, that’s how I felt at first.

In the moment, it was a head-scratching move for the Detroit Pistons (24-29). Just 1.5 games out of the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference, Bullock was one of the team’s premier perimeter shooters — with a 38.4 percent clip on the league’s worst three-point shooting team — and its most consistent wing on both sides of the ball.

However, hindsight allows certain benefits, and the more removed from the initial news break I get, the more I can convince myself I see a plan in the perpetual fog that has been the Pistons’ future.

Clearly, the Pistons were concerned about their ability to bring back the 27-year old Bullock, who shot an impressive 44.5 percent from three a season ago. So, they essentially pulled the NBA equivalent of trading for a minor-league prospect.

Adding the 6-foot-8 Mykhailiuk, who has spent time in the G-League (averaging more than 29 points per game) as well as 38 contests with the Lakers, gives the team a young, versatile swingman who is under contract for this season, as well as next. Both years are non-guaranteed.

Mykhailiuk has the tools to be a player in this league. A good athlete with a streaky jump shot, the No. 47 pick in the 2018 NBA Draft suffered from a short leash and a largely undefined roll in Los Angeles. He is the type of player that needs the confidence that comes from a team that has a defined role for him to play, and a coaching staff that will believe in him.

Will he find that in Detroit? Maybe, but I have to like the prospects of him getting a good shot to show his stuff. Over his final three seasons at the University of Kansas, Mykhailiuk shot 40, 39 and 44 percent from 3-point range.

In theory  the potential is there for him to develop into the same role that Bullock once played. It is quite possible Mykhailiuk develops into a fine wing player, but that won’t be known until his role within the Pistons organization is fully fleshed out.

For this year, though, it puts the Detroit Pistons in a crunch, now being without a reliable 3-and-D player — even more so given the recent news of Stanley Johnson‘s trade to Milwaukee.

This move seemingly was made with the future in mind, a change of pace from what has recently been said by team owner Tom Gores, and a general thought process that had been abandoned in recent years under multiple regimes.

We are left to simply wait and see if the move reaps an benefits for the Detroit Pistons in the years to come.