The Detroit Pistons introduced Troy Weaver as their new General Manager today with a virtual press conference.
Troy Weaver has officially made his introduction with the Detroit Pistons today, after participating in a joint Zoom call alongside Tom Gores, Dwane Casey, and Ed Stefanski. In what was otherwise a pretty standard and rudimentary press conference, one quote stood out;
“This isn’t a rebuild. This is a restoring.”
— PistonPowered (@PistonPowered) June 22, 2020
- Troy Weaver
At the end of the day, whatever you label the Pistons current situation doesn’t matter. “Rebuild” and “restoring” are more or less interchangeable. As far as I’m concerned, Weaver’s predilection for giving quotes that fire up the fan base made this press conference an absolute win.
He went on to talk about how he was encouraged to finally leave his position with the Oklahoma City Thunder after 12 years of service when he took a look at the skill set he had developed for himself.
“I looked at where the Pistons were, trying to become a competitive team again .. I felt like my skills and my talent made this a great fit for myself.”
— PistonPowered (@PistonPowered) June 22, 2020
Troy Weaver on what made him finally decide to leave Oklahoma City.
Restoring the Pistons to their former glory, reshaping what it means to play for Detroit, those are the things that Weaver hopes to establish with the organization. Navigating the strenuous process of a rebuild is something that he’s dealt with before, and he’s got a tall task in doing that with the Pistons.
When the team is healthy, they have a legitimately good unit. That likely contributed to the attractiveness of the position to Weaver. Ed Stefanski later reiterated the following statement;
Ed Stefanski just expressed his belief that had the Pistons been able to stay healthy this season, he feels they could have been as high as a sixth seed and made some noise in the playoffs.
— PistonPowered (@PistonPowered) June 22, 2020
He’s not wrong. It was clear that a second unit combination of Luke Kennard and Derrick Rose was set to cause fits for defenses across the league. Aiming for the sixth seed would have been a “best case scenario”, but the fact remains that if they were able to stay healthy, Detroit was set to have a strong year.
At the same time, that’s exactly the issue with this team. They constructed their roster in a way that their entire season is hinged on the ability of a few players to stay healthy. When they don’t (and they didn’t) everything fell apart.
Weaver’s expertise can hopefully right the ship for the Pistons. Adding more quality depth, drafting and signing the right talent, and creating a winning culture in Detroit are all things that he mentioned in the press conference.
If there’s anyone who’s equipped to take on this daunting task, it’s Weaver.