The Detroit Pistons didn’t waste any time signing NBA free agents, inking Kelly Olynyk to a 3 year $37 million deal to come to the Motor City.
Free agent Kelly Olynyk has agreed to a three-year, $37M deal with the Detroit Pistons, his agent Jeff Schwartz of @excelbasketball tells ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 2, 2021
The Twitter mobs immediately started complaining, but that was to be expected, as Olynyk is not in the same tier as some of the big names we were hearing.
He’s not Tim Hardaway Jr., Norman Powell or some other big time guy, so some fans are disappointed, which I understand.
The thing is, for what this team needs and where it is headed, Kelly Olynyk was a great free-agent signing, especially for the price.
He’s a big upgrade from Mason Plumlee, is only making a bit more and the third year of his contract is a team option, so the Pistons didn’t take on any long-term money.
There are a lot of reasons to love this free agent signing for the Detroit Pistons.
The Detroit Pistons have a lot of lineup versatility with Kelly Olynyk
Olynyk can play the four or the five, so he is going to give Dwane Casey a lot of lineup versatility and combinations.
The Pistons could throw Olynyk into the starting lineup with Cade Cunningham, Killian Hayes, Saddiq Bey and Jerami Grant, which would give the Pistons more shooting, or he can run Olynyk off the bench and create mismatches in the second unit.
If the Pistons want to go for defense, then Isaiah Stewart can be in the starting five with Olynyk a nice complement off the bench. With he and Cory Joseph potentially coming off the bench, the Pistons now have two reliable veterans to go along with all the kids.
The Detroit Pistons just improved their lineup versatility and 3-point shooting with this move, but there are plenty of other reasons to like it.