The Detroit Pistons won the first pick in the 2021 NBA Draft and will use it to draft Oklahoma State point guard Cade Cunningham. Unless they don’t.
News of the lottery brought jubilation to fans of the Detroit Pistons that we have not felt since the team won the title way back in 2004.
The celebrations quickly turned to thoughts of Cade Cunningham in a Pistons’ uniform, of a homegrown super team that gets the Pistons back to the playoffs and eventually back to the Finals.
Cunningham is the consensus number one pick, but someone forgot to tell Troy Weaver, who immediately added an air of mystery to the proceedings.
Troy Weaver said they're looking at five guys with the lottery pick and will consider everything.
— Offseason O (@omarisankofa) June 23, 2021
Ok, so he pretty much has to say this at this point, but we all know it is going to be Cade Cunningham right?……Right?
Detroit Pistons: Now is not the time for Troy Weaver to get cute, just take Cade Cunningham
In the end, I do think Troy Weaver will take Cade Cunningham, but his message did give me pause.
It reminded me a bit of Joe Dumars, whose tenure in Detroit was undone because he always thought he was the smartest guy the room after winning a title.
Dumars did have the Midas touch for awhile, which made him feel infallible. Add the best college basketball player Carmelo Anthony to a loaded Pistons’ team in 2003? Nope, we’ll take Darko.
Build a team around guards like the rest of the NBA? Nope, not me, I’m going to build around Andre Drummond, Greg Monroe and Josh Smith, three guys who can’t shoot outside of four feet.
Play it safe in a horrible free agent class? Nope, let’s give all of our money to two bench players in Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva.
My point is that being contrarian doesn’t necessarily make you smarter than everyone else and sometimes the consensus of the mob is right.
The current consensus is that Cade Cunningham is a tier above everyone else in the draft. He’s a possible franchise-altering talent who is practically custom-built for the modern game as a 6-foot-8 playmaking point guard who can defend and shoots 40 percent from long range.
I don’t want to hear about the “fit” of Evan Mobley or how Jalen Green can be the best scorer in the draft. The Pistons aren’t in a position to worry about “fit,” they just have to take the best player.
I know Troy Weaver will do his due diligence and I trust him to make the right call, I just hope his amazing first season doesn’t have him thinking he should zig when everyone else zags.
You can talk about five draft prospects all you want, but in the end, Troy Weaver needs to just do the easy thing, the boring thing and take Cade Cunningham with the first pick in the 2021 NBA Draft.