Detroit Pistons: Troy Weaver’s first trade shows he’s committed to rebuild
Right after the moratorium was lifted, the Detroit Pistons sent guard Bruce Brown Jr. to the Brooklyn Nets for forward Dzanan Musa and a 2021 second-round draft pick.
My gut reaction to Troy Weaver’s first trade as the Detroit Pistons general manager, was one of fear and trepidation.
Trepidation for the inevitable James Harden to Brooklyn ‘Woj Bomb’, that this Bruce Brown trade was surely setting the table for.
Harden, Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Durant joining forces would tip the cosmic balance of the NBA like some sort of basketball version of a Marvel/DC crossover.
Related Story. Detroit Pistons: Bruce Brown traded to Nets. light
The fear came when I fruitlessly searched my memory for NBA knowledge of Dzanan Musa. Why would Weaver trade a productive, young role player with plenty of room to grow for the Toronto Raptors’ 2021 2nd-rounder (which the Nets held the rights to) and Dzanan Musa?
Who exactly is Dzanan Musa?
Drafted 29th overall in the first round in 2018 by the Brooklyn Nets (the Nets’ President of Player Personnel at the time, Gregg Polinsky now holds the same position with Detroit), Musa brings a solid pedigree. He was the ninth youngest player in EuroLeague history and was named the 2018 EuroCup Rising Star.
The early success shows in his game.
Musa is brimming with confidence on the offensive end. If you care to watch his Croatian League, EuroLeague or EuroCup tapes, you’ll see Musa showing off a high-level of comfort navigating a pick and roll.
He also displayed a reliable, yet not mechanically consistent jumper, a solid first step, an ability to finish through contact, a go-to kiss off the glass floater, and passing ability. The best news is, he does all of this with a 6-foot-9 frame.
https://twitter.com/DzMusa/status/1262784556798746626
Unfortunately, not much of that tantalizing European talent has translated to the NBA. Last year he shot a ghastly 37% from the field. The field. Not 3-point land. The field. That is pantheon level chucking.
The three-point shot wasn’t any better, Musa finished the year shooting just 24%. That’s alarming for someone who was heralded as a 3-point threat and offensive dynamo coming into the draft. He also averaged more turnovers than assists and a negative VORP. Yikes.
Of course, all those ugly stats came in a short period of time. Musa has only logged 528 NBA minutes total. Compare that to Bruce Brown, who has already played more than six times that – and they were both selected in the same draft class.
And that’s the rub with this trade: from a macro sense, the Pistons are trading a known quantity for two unknown quantities.
The known quantity, Bruce Brown, is a relentless 24-year-old ball-hawk who is happy to do the dirty work and is, at the very least, a rotation player on a very bad Pistons team. With the Pistons roster so low on talent, it’s a bit shocking to see them move on from a player that we all kind of agreed was one of the bright spots on the team.
For Musa, the largest sample size of high-level basketball outside of his limited NBA minutes is the time he spent in the G-League. Musa played really well there, posting a 19.5 PPG 6.9 RPG 3.9 APG on 45 FG% and 36 3% on threes for the Long Island Nets. Of course, the G-League is filled with guys who played well only in the G-League.
On the bright side, Musa is young, almost three years younger than Brown. He still has time to grow into an interesting basketball player. Just think how much Brown grew in the past year.
And that’s likely what Weaver is thinking. This roster isn’t winning anything of consequence anytime soon and Bruce Brown, while a solid player, isn’t going to be the type of player to flip the fate of a franchise.
So why not roll the die with a young project and an additional second-rounder and hope the basketball gods bless the Pistons? (Mr. Weaver may not be aware that The Basketball Gods have abandoned the Pistons.)
Overall, the return for Brown was just a bit lighter than I would hope. Especially if he continues to improve during the next regular season.
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Again, this roster isn’t winning anything of consequence anytime soon. Couldn’t another season of Brown showcasing his defensive prowess and honing his playmaking yield a larger return? So why move Brown now? We may just find out on draft night but for now, Troy Weaver’s likely the only man who knows.