Detroit Pistons: 5 decisions they wish they could undo
Detroit Pistons: Drafting Luke Kennard over Donovan Mitchell
This draft pick is the perfect example of why you shouldn’t let your coach be the GM of the team.
Stan Van Gundy was coaching and making personnel decisions, which is usually a recipe for disaster, as coaches want to win now while executives have to think about the future.
SVG’s team needed shooting and Kennard was meant to be the best shooter in this draft, so the Pistons drafted for need instead of talent and ended with with the dud Kennard instead of superstar Donovan Mitchell.
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Kennard never looked like much more than a role player, and he could still end up being an effective one for the Clippers, as he can shoot the lights out.
The problem is that he can’t do anything else, especially defend, so he is hard to keep on the court when other teams can just pick-and-roll him to death.
I will say this, Kennard eventually brought the Pistons Saddiq Bey, so for that, I thank him. Bey is already better than Kennard, younger and on a rookie deal that doesn’t pay him $16 million per year.
Trading Kennard was probably my favorite Troy Weaver move so far, as it showed he wasn’t going to double down on mistakes like the Pistons routinely did in the past.