Detroit Pistons: It’s time to start the youth movement
Hurting the veterans, hurting the youth
In the 125-115 loss to the Nets, the top 4 Pistons in minutes and shot attempts were Drummond, Rose, Markieff Morris and Jackson. Doumbouya played eight minutes. Promising second-year players Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk and Bruce Brown played just 19 and 18 minutes, respectively.
It’s possible that Detroit is just trying to showcase Rose and Drummond as trade bait, but with multiple reports that the trade market has dried up, there really isn’t much point. Playing this many minutes could actually hurt their value, especially in the case of Rose, who is always one bad landing away from being injured.
Teams know Rose’s game at this point, so there is no reason to keep running him out there for extended minutes in a vain attempt to win meaningless games. If he is not traded then he should be on a strict minutes limit so that he is healthy going into the offseason when the Pistons are more likely to find a trade partner.
mock trades. 5 Derrick Rose trades. light
Detroit can also go a long way to answering some of the organizational questions that they will have going into the offseason. Is Brown a viable option at point guard? Can Christian Wood do enough defensively to play big minutes at power forward or backup center? Is Jordan Bone just a G-League flash? Is Louis King a potential rotation player for next season? Is Mykhailiuk a poor man’s Klay Thompson? If so, does that make Kennard expendable? The answers to these questions will dictate many of Detroit’s offseason moves, so it is time to start answering them.
Doumbouya’s confidence has been wrecked over the last few games and he may even be headed back to the G-League — though he scored 17 in the first half on Sunday — as he has not gotten consistent shots or minutes, and for what? Twenty-five minutes and six points from Snell?
Losing games where veterans are taking all the shots and minutes are not productive losses in any sense. It’s time to start losing with the youth so at least there is some benefit. Also, it’s just possible they will do better.