Detroit Pistons: 5 best off-season moves

Unless something shocking comes a long, the Detroit Pistons off-season has been completed. Their roster is full and all their salary cap space has been used. Now, is a good time to look back at what they have done. Here we look at the good stuff.

This was Detroit Pistons general manager Troy Weaver’s first full off-season in charge of the team. If you remember, he was hired in June, 2020, months after Detroit had played a game. It was also in the middle of the pandemic, so there were no draft combines, summer leagues or in-person workouts for him to attend.

This off-season was not exactly normal, but it was more normal than last year.

Best 5 off-season moves of the Detroit Pistons

Now that Weaver and his staff (which gained and lost some people during the process) are done. Let’s look at the top five moves they made during the off-season.

Remember, due to a lot of dead money on the salary cap, mostly due to absorbing the final year of Blake Griffin’s contract, Detroit did not have a lot of money to go after free agents. Weaver also stated that he wanted to run it back with most of last year’s team, so he was not looking to make a teardown of the roster, unlike the year before.

All moves made after May 16, 2021, the date of the Pistons final game of the 2020-21 season, will be considered part of the off-season.

5. Getting Jamorko Pickett signed before summer league

One of the pleasant surprises of summer league was the emergence of rookie forward Jamorko PIckett. The 6-foot-9 forward out of Georgetown did not do much in the first two games, making just one basket.

However, when Sekou Doumbouya had to leave for a family matter, Pickett was put in the starting lineup against the New York Knicks, and immediately started knocking down shots. Pickett scored 13 points in just the first quarter and finished with 18 points in a Pistons win.

Importantly, MOST importantly, Pickett’s chemistry with No.1 pick Cade Cunningham was very good. His shooting success freed Cunningham up to knock down seven three-pointers in the game.

He finished with an average of 9.8 points, 3.8 rebounds and made 50-percent of his three-point attempts. He was one of four players in summer league to shoot 60.0+ 2P%, 40.0+ 3P%, 90.0+ FT%

"“I was given opportunities and I took the most of them,” said Pickett to NBA.com. “I know I belong here. It’s always having that mindset – knowing I belong, knowing I should start. That’s what pushed me when I did have the opportunity to excel.”"

Most Pistons fans were thrilled to find another young talent. They were quickly then concerned ‘Oh no, he’s good, some other team saw him and will scoop him up’.

However, Weaver, who has deep ties to the Washington D.C. area, knew Pickett was a player before summer league.

Before the summer league began, Pickett had already agreed to an Exhibit 10 contract with Detroit back on August 2. That means Pickett automatically is on the Pistons training camp roster and, if he does not make the team, will be paid a bonus to play for the Pistons’ G-League team, the Motor City Cruise.

Good move Troy!