Detroit Pistons: 3 radical changes to improve the defense

Detroit Pistons: A roster overhaul

This certainly does not fall entirely on Dwane Casey, nor on Saddiq Bey and Bojan Bogdanovic, as the Detroit Pistons lack defenders up and down the roster.

They’ve gotten next to nothing from their role players, and there are at least nine guys on the current roster who need to go before next season. I’ve heard a lot of people talk about Detroit’s bench leading the league in scoring, but who cares? They have the 3rd-worst net rating so are a negative overall, even if they are scoring.

This offseason will be the real test for Troy Weaver, who has yet to build a coherent team and has instead collected what I call “transaction” players where he was trying to win the deal rather than get a guy who actually fit on the team.

The team has no dawgs coming off the bench, no glue guys, no players who want to take on the tough defensive assignment and don’t care about their stats.

Instead, Weaver has taken chances on first round busts that have not panned out, signed veterans like Cory Joseph and Rodney McGruder who are basically just stealing roster spots, and didn’t add a single good defender in the offseason.

I am not a GM, but it was obvious this was a weakness from the beginning, so this roster doesn’t just need one or two players, it needs an overhaul around the young core. They need some adults who can teach these kids how to defend and play hard every night, how to be professionals.

Take a look around the league: The best teams don’t have retreads and reclamation projects coming off their bench, they have guys who know their role and play it well, guys who complement the starters and can pick them up on an off night.

Troy Weaver has a lot of work before the trade deadline and in the offseason, as this team is far away from being competitive and needs some radical changes from the coach down.