Detroit Pistons: Troy Weaver making no doubt who is calling the shots

Some franchises have such a convoluted management structure, you are not always sure who the heck is in charge. That is not a problem with the Detroit Pistons.

President Harry S Truman had a famous saying: “The buck stops here.” There is no question where the buck stops with the Pistons.

Troy Weaver’s officially is general manager of the Detroit Pistons. That is not the biggest title in the company. If one wants to look at the company directory, there are plenty of people that are vice presidents and executive vice presidents.

In the official media guide, former basketball agent Arn Tellem, is listed above Weaver a vice chairman.

However, it has become quite clear that Weaver calls the shots with anything to do with basketball. The one caveat is, of course, that owner Tom Gores must go along with his decision because, well, its his team.

But outside of that, Weaver seems to have 100-percent authority to do what he thinks is best to ‘restore’ the Pistons to their past glory.

How do we know this? Because Weaver is reversing almost all the moves of the previous administrations _ with some members of it still in the Pistons front office.

Troy Weaver showing he is in charge with Detroit Pistons

When Stan Van Gundy was let go by Gores in May, 2018, veteran NBA executive Ed Stefanski was brought to be “special advisor to the owner’, until a new basketball operations director was brought in.

From that point until June, 2020 when Weaver was hired, Stefanski was in charge. He hired Malik Rose and 76ers Process vet Sachin Gupta to be assistant GMs with Gregg Polinsky as director of player personnel.

The Pistons made the playoffs in Stefanski’s first year but, with franchise player Blake Griffin missing most of the season with an injury, the wheels fell off and the team was 20-46 when the season was abruptly ended due to the pandemic.

After the season, Rose and Gupta left but Stefanski was still there and Polinsky was promoted to senior director of personnel.

We are not going to go into all the deals that were made by Stefanski & Co. during that time. You can go here for that.

What was happening behind the scenes at the Henry Ford Performance Center offices in the spring of ’20 may not be known publicly, but it was obvious change was in the wind.

Whoever was brought in as the new general manager, it was assumed, Stefanski would still be in charge.

When Weaver was named the new GM, he immediately began cleaning house. he started with a mystifying trade of reliable guard Bruce Brown to the Brooklyn Nets for just a second-round draft pick.

Brown had been a Stefanski draft pick. Was Weaver sending a message with the move, that a new sheriff was in town running things. It was certainly not a move Stefanski would likely would have made if he still had final say.

All the Van Gundy/Stefanski holdovers were dispatched as soon as possible. By the three-quarter mark of the 2020-21 NBA season, the only players left were Sekou Doumbouya and Deividas Syrvidis.

Polinsky left after the season. Weaver is bringing back former Pistons assistant GM George David, who had left when Van Gundy took control of the team.

The final wiping out of the Stefanski era came in the past few weeks.

In the 2019 draft, Detroit drafted young Frenchman Sekou Doumbouya with the No. 15 overall pick. Stefanski then traded three second-round picks to move up to No. 37 and take Sirvydis, a young Lithuanian. Both picks were under 20-years-old.

Two years later, neither is with the club, and it is not like they got that much, or anything, for them:

• Sirvydis was cut, despite having $1.5 guaranteed for next season. Weaver would rather add more dead money to the salary cap than have SIrvydis occupy a roster spot. FYI, the son of Pistons vice chairman Arn Tellem is Sirvydis’ agent.
• Doumbouya was packaged with Jahlil Okafor and sent to the Brooklyn Nets for four second-round picks and DeAndre Jordan (already bought out).

The only move by Stefanski that Weaver agreed with was retaining  coach Dwane Casey, even giving him a one-year contract extension.

Basically obliterating the 2019 draft run by Stefanski, and releasing a client of the vice chairman’s son shows Weaver is certainly not playing politics in his job.

Good, bad or indifferent, there is no question who is calling the shots with the Detroit Pistons. The buck stops at Troy Weaver.