Detroit Pistons stock market: Who is trending in March 2023?

Detroit Pistons stock market: Players trending down in March

Two vets

While McGruder and CoJo are looking like the Splash Brothers (kidding), the Detroit Pistons’ other two vets are sitting on the bench watching. Alec Burks has missed the last seven games and counting and Bojan Bogdanovic has missed the last nine. Both players have already been ruled out for tonight’s game against Atlanta, and they may not play again this season the way things are going.

I don’t know, maybe they are really injured, but these reek of tank injuries, and if that is true, this is somewhat criminal on the part of the Pistons. I don’t necessarily blame the players, who have likely been told to sit, but Detroit has been putting out a garbage product the last few seasons and all of them have included injuries to their vets down the stretch in an effort to lose as many games as possible. I don’t know about the rest of you, but this tanking is getting VERY old.

It’s possible that the Pistons will try to trade one or both of these guys in the offseason and neither are really helping their value, though I suppose keeping them healthy is the priority right now.

Marvin Bagley III

Speaking of players that can’t stay healthy, Marvin Bagley III returned for eight games only to have to sit out again, this time with ankle soreness. Part of injuries just comes down to luck, especially for big men, but MBIII is not making that $12.5 million per season guaranteed investment look like a smart one.

It’s not just that he can’t stay healthy, but Bagley III has been the worst fit with the other bigs, as he and Wiseman have been a disaster together defensively and both eat up a lot of space in the paint on the other end.

The two-big experiment has been a flop when MBIII is involved, and his future fit is questionable at best, but good luck trading a guy who is owed $25 million over the next two seasons and only plays half the games.

Dwane Casey

The Detroit Pistons are young, injured and not very good, so you can’t pin all of these losses on Dwane Casey, but when your team fails to win 20 games (which is likely) some heat has to go on the coach. The Pistons still come out flat and ill-prepared for most games, often falling behind in the 1st quarter, where they have the second-worst scoring margin in the NBA. They are equally bad down the stretch, often failing to execute at the ends of games, making bonehead plays and giving up rebounds with the wrong personnel on the floor.

Casey’s future is one of the big question marks looming over the season, as Detroit hasn’t made the progress many thought they would. Would now be a good time to change directions and get a new voice in the huddle? Many fans think so, but the team has stood behind its coach so far. This season isn’t on Casey, as he was never given the roster to win, but at some point, all of this losing is going to catch up to him.