Should Los Angeles Rams be role model for Detroit Pistons?

The Los Angeles Rams mortgaged their future to get a Super Bowl championship, choosing to trade draft picks for established veterans. Going forward, is this a path the Detroit Pistons should take?

The Rams trading for quarterback Matthew Stafford from Detroit had nothing to do with any ‘restoring’ of a winning tradition. It was to win a Super Bowl right now – which they did. 

Building for the future is popular, mainly because that is usually the best path for sustained success. Also, there is additional ulterior motive, it keeps coaches and team executives employed a few more years despite abysmal records (‘We’re in a rebuilding phase, so you expect some bumps in the road’, says every general manager coming off a bad year)

But the Rams said: Forget that! The future is now. They gave away draft picks like they were candy, brought in veterans with probably only a couple of years left in the tank, and signed guys to big money deals with a ‘salary cap? What’s that?’ attitude.

It worked, as the Rams pulled out a 23-20 win over the Bengals in the Super Bowl. In a couple of years, things might get rough for Los Angeles, but they can all stare at their Super Bowl rings when they have a bad year.

The Rams laid all their cards on the table: The time was now.

Their working theory is: We know how the guys who have been in the league for a while will perform, why gamble on some 20-year-old kid to produce when it counts.

Players like Stafford, Von Miller and Jalen Ramsey, these are proven commodities. Draft picks? Who knows?

Now that they are looking to no longer be basement-dwellers in the NBA standings, should the Detroit Pistons try and be more like the Rams?

Can the Detroit Pistons learn from the Los Angeles Rams success

First off, the Pistons were badly in need of a rebuild.

They had bloated contracts, old guys on their last legs and players who simply were not that good. General manager Troy Weaver got rid of the entire roster he inherited, proved a hard bargainer on contracts and made some wise draft selections. He also got lucky last year in netting the No. 1 pick in the draft.

Detroit now has a nice core of young players. Three have made All-Rookie in the last two years: Saddiq Bey, Cade Cunningham and Isaiah Stewart plus (assuming he resigns) newly acquired Marvin Bailey III also made All-Rookie with the Kings,

They also have the No. 5 pick in this year’s draft, not as good as No. 1, but they should still get a good player to add to the mix.

So the question becomes, does Detroit try and solidify its lineup with some older veterans, like sign guard Jalen Brunson or center Mitchell Robinson on the free agent market?

Detroit has as much money as anyone to spend on free agency, why not use it?

A major difference, due to the ages of their top players, is that the Pistons window of opportunity is larger than the Rams. There may not be a need to mortgage their future, but there is also no reason not to improve the team’s chances of winning.

Pointing to some year in the distant future to eventually achieve success does not motivate those playing for Detroit right now. Showing a commitment to trying to improve the win total next season gives them much more hope.

Eventually, these young players need to taste some success. Promising players who, year after year, do not win games, soon become ‘unrealized potential’ players.

Weaver has always stated he wants veterans on the team, not just a Kiddie Korps. You might as well get good ones.

Of course, Detroit already has an established veteran of note: Jerami Grant. Although not an All-Star, he does have an Olympic gold medal and was second in Most Improved Player voting in 2021.

If Portland comes calling with the No. 7 overall pick in the draft, do you ship him out? To be good in 2027, sure, that is the right move. But to make a run for the playoffs (Yes, we’re talking playoffs) right now, Grant would be much more helpful.

You can build and build and point to the future but if anything goes awry along the way, an injury to a major player, dissension on the team, or the players you thought would become very good, are simply good, all those losing seasons were for nothing.

Building is a gamble because you need a lot of things to pan out. Of course,  going for it all now is not a fool-proof strategy. If Cincinnati does not get a horrible referee call in the end zone, the Rams plans would have gone up in smoke.

Detroit can learn from the Ram,s but they do not have to copy them exactly.