3 New Year’s resolutions for the Detroit Pistons in 2022
The Detroit Pistons have the worst record in the NBA as the new year begins, a position we were hoping would be filled by some other team this season.
But the Pistons have suffered injuries to Cade Cunningham and Jerami Grant, gotten inconsistent play from some of their young guys and have actually been worse than their 20-win campaign last season, which has some misguided fans turning on Troy Weaver.
I still think Weaver’s vision for this team is coming into focus and that they will make big improvements heading into year three of the restoration that will hopefully catapult them out of the cellar.
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I hate New Year’s resolutions and never make them for myself, but it’s much easier to make them for other people, so there are three things I want to see the Detroit Pistons stick to over the next year.
New Year’s resolution #1 for the Detroit Pistons: I will be aggressive but not impatient
Being aggressive and patient seem like two things that don’t jive but that is precisely what the Detroit Pistons need to do.
They will have cap space next offseason and I would like them to be aggressive in pursuing a young free agent (or make a trade for one) that complements Cade Cunningham and gives them a chance to take the next logical step towards contention.
However, they shouldn’t throw money away just to sign a guy, and if the right player is not available, it’s ok to do nothing.
Doing nothing is far less damaging than blowing cap space on a guy who won’t really move the needle, so while I would love the Pistons to pursue a guy like Deandre Ayton, if they strike out, so be it.
For YEARS the Detroit Pistons overpaid for role players in an effort to win now, which put them in the 9-10 seed purgatory that teams want to avoid.
This year’s free agent class is not great, so while there are some guys who can help and would be upgrades, I would be ok with them sitting on that space to make a trade later if the top guys stay with their teams or decide to go somewhere else.
Be aggressive, Pistons, but don’t be stupid. We are finally on the brink of building something and there is no reason to set the team back with the wrong guy.