The Detroit Pistons have gone through a slew of players since Troy Weaver took over and the rebuild started in earnest.
In fact, if you look at the roster from three years ago, it was a completely different team, and a whole lot of players have passed through since then.
That includes several role players who had brief moments of excitement with the Detroit Pistons, two of whom are now lingering in the G-League, somewhat surprisingly.
Neither of these guys is great (or they wouldn’t be in the G-League) but I am surprised that they haven’t managed to find their way back onto an NBA roster given their skillsets.
2 former Detroit Pistons lingering in the G-League
Tony Snell
I used to call Snell “Mr Anonymous” as he had a habit of playing a whole game without anyone noticing. Snell payed 53 games last season between Portland and New Orleans but hasn’t been able to find a home on an NBA roster this season.
Is Snell a good player? No, not really, but he does one thing that just about every team is looking for, which is shoot the 3-ball. Snell is just under 40 percent from long range for his career and does have good size at 6-foot-6. The problem is that he doesn’t do much else, and if he isn’t getting and making 3-point shots he may as well not be on the court. He did have a few big games for the Pistons, including one where he made the record books after hitting all nine of his shot attempts.
He is currently averaging 11 points and six rebounds per game for the Maine Celtics while hitting 40 percent of his 3-point shots. Snell’s NBA days may be over, but it is somewhat surprising that his shooting hasn’t landed him on the back of some team’s bench.
Frank Jackson
Count me as someone who is a huge fan of Frank Jackson and who probably would have given him a contract a few years ago, which is why it’s good that I’m not the GM. At one point, Jackson looked like a solid backup guard for the Detroit Pistons, as he averaged 10 points per game on 40 percent shooting from long range in the 2020-21 season.
But the next season he got more minutes and got exposed, as he still scored 10 a game but shot just 30 percent from deep on more attempts. Jackson is a solid energy guy who would occasionally erupt for a big scoring night, but he’s a tweener who is not really a good enough creator to play the point and is too small and not a good enough shooter to be a two guard.
He did play one game for Utah this season but now finds himself on the Salt Lake City Stars, where he is averaging 23 points per game while shooting 43 percent from long range on a whopping 8.2 attempts per game. If Jackson keeps shooting like that, he will eventually get another shot in the NBA and I am somewhat surprised that he hasn’t already.
It now looks like the Detroit Pistons were smart to let these two walk, as neither has been able to get a regular roster spot on an NBA team.