We waited for Hamidou Diallo, now we see why
After coming to Detroit in March, as part of the Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk trade with the Thunder, Hamidou Diallo played well and looked to be a piece for the Pistons future. He is 6-foot-5, athletic and his big weakness, outside shooting, seemed to be solved, making 39-percent from three for Detroit.
Diallo was a free agent and expected a big pay day. As free agency went on, teams kept by-passing Diallo. Finally, on August 19, he signed with the Piston for about the same amount as Josh Jackson, and his deal is only guaranteed for this season.
DIallo, like a few others, is not posting the numbers he did at the end of the last year. With Saddiq Bey and Cade Cunningham established starters on the wing, there is no place in the starting lineup for Diallo. He and Josh Jackson are basically mirrors of each other, and coach Dwane Casey has struggled to give both a lot of playing time in the same game.
Diallo has gone from 11.9 points last year to just 6.5 points this year. He also is back to not hitting from outside, making just 33.3% of his three-point attempts, on very low volume.
Diallo is mostly being used as a defensive stopper at end of games. He certainly is not showing the promise he displayed at the end of the last season.
Salary: Diallo was hoping to get something in the three-year, 30-40 million range as a free agent. He ended up with $5 million for this year from Detroit, with a club option for next season.
Remember him?
McGruder has played for Detroit since the start of last year, as he was part of the Luke Kennard trade. The point is, he almost never plays. If not for that one game against the Warriors, where Draymond Green and Klay Thompson dissed him, most Detroit fans would not even know he was on the roster.
After barely getting on the floor last year, most outside people assumed McGruder would not return. The team did not seem to want him, and, honestly, why would McGruder want to spend another year gathering dust on the bench. The guard was a part-time starter with the Miami Heat, you think he would look for a place he can get a chance at playing time.
Stunningly, McGruder signed a one-year deal on August 10 for the veterans minimum salary. Literally the lowest possible offer Detroit could make.
McGruder is still a benchwarmer, so you can not blame him for their problems. To be a problem while playing, you have to actually play.
McGruder is suppose to be a great locker room guy. The way he is used, he might as well stay there. Very mystifying signing.
Salary: McGruder is on the book for one year, $1,939,350 contract, the minimum the Pistons can offer. He is free agent at the end of the season.
Conclusion
There are a couple of lessons to be learned from looking at the backgrounds and salaries of all the non-starting veterans:
- Basing anything on end of a season games for a team going nowhere is a major mistake. Joseph, jackson, Diallo and Olynyk looked really good at the end of last year. However, the teams they were on lost almost all their games, while they wracked up nice stats. None played anywhere near that level when the bell rang for the new season.
- You get what you pay for. None of the bench players outside of Olynyk makes more than $5.5 million. Also, none of the players, outside of Olynyk, look like they can contribute to the Pistons winning in the future.
Maybe because the starting lineup looked so poor at the start, is why the bench seemed awesome in the beginning. Were expectations too high for the second team? Once Olynyk returns we will find out.
A solid bench unit is needed badly by the Pistons. Considering most of the players are not guaranteed to come back next year, hopefully they pull it together for their own sake.