The Detroit Pistons are taking on a new form of rebuilding

The Detroit Pistons upcoming rebuild may not be unorthodox, but it’s not the standard we’re used to.

As Troy Weaver begins his first season as General Manager with the Detroit Pistons, one thing has remained perfectly clear: He wants to build this franchise from the ground up.

This was made evident immediately after the moratorium on trades was lifted, when he traded away Bruce Brown. He followed that up by moving Luke Kennard to the Los Angeles Clippers.

Condensing the long list of transactions Detroit has pulled off into a single sentence; Weaver wanted draft picks, and he got plenty. The Pistons made four selections in Wednesday night’s draft. He wants his own guys that he can help mold to the style of play he envisions.

It was initially eluded to by former Senior Adviser Ed Stefanski that Detroit was totally embracing the rebuild and leaning into the word itself. Then, after Weaver was brought on as General Manager, the philosophy changed.

While it can still in a sense be referred to as such, considering it’s technically still the same thing, he prefers to label it a “restoring” or a “retool”. With every move that the Pistons make, his vision is becoming clearer.

Weaver wants to bring in as many young guys as he can, whether it be through the draft or through free agency (Josh Jackson, Jahlil Okafor) while also stockpiling quality veterans who can make this team semi-competitive.

There’s a reason Blake Griffin and Derrick Rose are still on the team, and fans should expect they remain here at the very least until the trade deadline.

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The days of Sam Hinkie and “trusting the process” are long gone. With the restructuring of the NBA’s Lottery odds, it no longer benefits you to be the worst team in the league. Tanking isn’t entirely dead, but it’s not nearly as effective anymore.

In case you don’t agree, the New Orleans Pelicans won 35 games a season ago and their reward was Zion Williamson. They were relatively competitive and still landed the number one pick. While it was certainly an anomaly, it’s entirely possible.

So with that in mind, it’s becoming more clear that the Pistons fully intend to do anything but roll over this season. They want their young players to see quality minutes alongside seasoned NBA veterans and see what they can make out of it.

No one is expecting them to make the playoffs, but the reality is that they aren’t going to be as historically bad as some anticipated they may be.

The conversation of whether or not their a contending team won’t be had for several years, but for the time being we can expect that they’ll be pretty entertaining with the likes of Sekou Doumbouya, Killian Hayes, Saddiq Bey, and the few others brought in.

The Pistons are setting themselves up for a developmentally productive season, and there’s not much more that fans could ask for right now.