The Detroit Pistons are entering an important offseason that could be a turning point for the franchise.
Troy Weaver has made it clear that the team plans to try to win, and even went as far as to tell Bojan Bogdanovic that they were “going to be great” next season.
If so, Weaver has his work cut out for him, as the Detroit Pistons have a flawed roster that doesn’t have a coherent identity. We never got to see the full team this season and learned little about how the pieces fit.
The good news is that Cade Cunningham will be back and it looks like the Pistons hit home runs in the draft last year with Jaden Ivey and Jalen Duren.
But outside of that, the future is unclear, which is why this will be one of the most interesting and difficult to predict offseasons in years.
The Detroit Pistons could go in a lot of different directions.
Detroit Pistons: Which offseason would you prefer?
Option 1: Run it back
In this scenario, the Detroit Pistons do little in the offseason aside from adding a draft pick and some bench pieces.
They continue to allow their young players to play big minutes, and finally build some chemistry with the full team. We really don’t know how Cunningham or Ivey are going to work with Jalen Duren, James Wiseman and Bojan Bogdanovic, as we never got to see them all play together.
The Pistons sit on much of their cap space, keep developing and building around their core. They don’t extend any of the 2020 draft guys, let them play out their contracts and make a more informed decision about which ones (if any) to keep.
They let Dwane Casey play out his contract and then hire the coach of the future at the end of the season. They trade one or both of Bogdanovic and Burks for younger players and draft assets.
They make their big play in 2024 around Cade, Ivey and Duren with a completely clean cap sheet.
This would be the most patient option, but if it yielded a few more wins, the Detroit Pistons would then be in a great position the next season with plenty of data in hand.
I have a feeling this would be the least popular option.
Detroit Pistons: Which offseason would you prefer?
Option #2: The half measure
This option would involve letting Cory Joseph, Rodney McGruder and Hamidou Diallo go and replacing them with the first-round draft pick and a couple of better bench players.
The Pistons would use a moderate amount of cap space on players in the Josh Hart tier of free agents and grab a couple of guys instead of spending most of their cap space on one player.
They hope the addition of some better veteran players who can defend, along with the emergence of Cade, Ivey, Duren and Wiseman are enough to get them into the play-in conversation.
They hold onto their other veterans and have a much deeper roster that is competitive most nights, gets into the 35 win area, but still has some amount of financial flexibility going forward.
The Pistons retain some “dry powder” in the form of cap space that and reap even more by not extending anyone from the 2020 draft class. They head into 2024 with enough cap space to make a move for an impact talent to go with the young core and whatever veteran they sign.
Detroit Pistons: Which offseason would you prefer?
Option #3: Go for it
In this scenario, the Detroit Pistons decide that the right guy is there in a trade or free agency to make a big move.
It could be something like trading their draft pick (unless it is #1) for an impact wing, or maxing a guy like Kyle Kuzma or Jeremy Grant in free agency.
They hold onto Bogs and Burks, add one max free agent (or trade for a max guy) and use the rest of the space to fill out the bench with the best possible veterans they can find. They go into next season with the best possible roster and don’t worry about what could happen with Jaylen Brown in 2024.
This option would potentially yield the most wins, but could make them less flexible financially going forward. This is also the option that would put the most pressure on the team to win and could cost Troy Weaver his job if he pays the wrong guy.
There are obviously pros and cons to each scenario and a lot of it will depend on how the lottery balls fall on March 16, as adding Victor Wembanyama potentially changes everything.
Troy Weaver has to navigate this carefully, as he wants to max out wins for next season while still developing the young core and keeping some financial firepower.