Troy Weaver’s first, and worst, move as Detroit Pistons GM

The first trade Troy Weaver made as general manager of the Detroit Pistons might be his worst one. Sending Bruce Brown away to the Brooklyn Nets is not looking good,especially as he stands out in the NBA playoffs.

Captain Hindsight is the best judge of any move, but, when it happened, a lot of Pistons fans were not happy in November, 2020 about guard Bruce Brown being sent to the Brooklyn Nets for basically peanuts.

It was Troy Weaver’s first trade involving someone on the Pistons roster as the new general manager. His other trades have been seen as much better, but this was a big ‘oof’, as far as Pistons fandom was concerned.

Looking at his record since taking over in June, 2020, it probably is Weaver’s worst trade. Most have worked out, but not this one.

Bruce Brown had been a valuable player on some not-very-good Detroit team;s since being drafted by Ed Stefanski in 2018. In two seasons with the Pistons, he had proven to be a solid Swiss army knife of player. At 6-foot-4 and 200 pounds, Brown could play point or shooting guard and even small forward. He started 109 games between 2018-20 for Detroit, as he could be plugged in everywhere,

Brown was not a great outside shooter but he hustled and played solid defense. On a squad with little young talent, Brown seemed to be a good piece to help rebuild the team moving forward.

Until he wasn’t.

In case you have not checked out the NBA playoffs, Brown is playing really well for the Nets. In Game 2 against the Boston Celtics, Brown poured in 23 points  in a tough loss to the Celtics. And he, of course, still provided his trademark hustle and defense.

Why can’t the Pistons find players like that! (Sarcasm).

What is most rankling to fans is that Detroit received so little in return for a promising young playe,r who had been good enough to be a part-time starter. The Pistons got:

• Dzanan Musa: a forward who had played 40 games for Brooklyn the year before. He was cut a month after the trade and has not played in the NBA since.
• The 2021 second rounder was from Toronto (part of the Greg Monroe trade). The Raptors, forced to play in Florida, had an unusually bad year and it proved to be a decent pick.

What might have been if Detroit had kept this draft pick, and did not have to trade its own in the Mason Plumlee trade to Charlotte. Instead of the Hornets, could have drafted JT Thor, thought of as a promising young forward.

Brown’s deal was eventually folded to be part of a three-team deal involving Detroit, the Clippers and the Nets that also sent another fan favorite, Luke Kennard, packing.

Weaver most likely considered Brown to be a similar player to Killian Hayes, who he had just drafted 7th overall. Since the Pistons were committed to Hayes, who unfortunately has suffered a number of injuries in his two years, he figured to open up some playing time for him by getting rid of Brown..

Theoretically, the reasoning might have sense, but Hayes proved not ready for heavy minutes and then suffered a hip injury that made him miss half his rookie season. Detroit certainly could have used Brown, and all that he brings, the past two seasons.

As it turned out, Brown was just the first many players on the roster who ended up elsewhere. By the start of the 2021-22 season, no players remained on the team from before Weaver was GM.

In terms of value, Detroit got almost nothing from the Brown deal. Weaver has done much better since then.