Bill Simmons recently declared the Detroit Pistons had one of the worst GM jobs in the league, how right is he?
Every Sunday since the All-Star weekend, Ryen Russillo joins Bill Simmons on The Ringer’s Bill Simmons Podcast to talk about the current NBA topics. For the first few weeks, the conversations were normal topics about the 2019-2020 NBA season, so it generally excluded the Detroit Pistons.
Will reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo or LeBron James claim this year’s MVP trophy? Will the Houston Rockets three-point shooting strategy work in the long-term?
However, as time passed and coronavirus pandemic continued to grow, their conversations began to transition from conversations about predicting the future on the current season to speculating whether there will even be an end to this year’s entertaining season.
On April 12th’s Sunday night podcast, Russillo and Simmons both revealed their rankings for the top five worst GM jobs in the NBA. During their conversation, Bill Simmons ranked his jobs as followed:
- Minnesota Timberwolves
- Detroit Pistons
- Cleveland Cavaliers
- Charlotte Hornets
- San Antonio Spurs
This got many Pistons fans asking: Is the Detroit Pistons GM job really that bad?
To answer this question, we must look at the situations surrounding some of the worst GM jobs in basketball to find out where the Pistons actually sit in the rankings for the least exciting jobs in basketball.
With that being said, let’s start the list:
7) Detroit Pistons
Detroit finally pulled the plug this year on trying to rebuild on the go. With the season-ending injury to All-NBA forward Blake Griffin early in the season, the Pistons saw that they need to start a rebuild in order to compete in the future.
This led to the Pistons shipping Andre Drummond to the Cleveland Cavaliers at this year’s trade deadline. The main issue for the Pistons is their talent going forward.
Luke Kennard was trending in the right direction before a knee injury derailed his season and Christian Wood started a showcase of his skills after the Drummond trade.
Despite being the youngest player in the NBA, rookie Sekou Doumbouya started his rookie campaign strong before starting to struggle as the season progressed. But, in all fairness how much can you expect from a 19-year-old playing in the NBA?
Bruce Brown, Langston Galloway, and Svi Mykhailiuk all can be solid role players for the future teams if they decide to stay around.
Blake Griffin’s contract will be a burden the Pistons will have to carry, but on the bright side, the Pistons are no longer paying Josh Smith! Outside of that though, the Pistons seem to be financially flexible for the next few years which will help the team with their rebuild process for the years to come.
Bill Simmons ranking the Pistons as the second-worst GM job in basketball was a little overblown, but he is not wrong in the sense that things may not be easy for the Pistons going forward